


Burnt Offerings

by Starglider



Series: Runelord of Varisia [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game), Role-Playing Games
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Rise of the Runelords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-04 00:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4119990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starglider/pseuds/Starglider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A group of strangers find themselves in the wrong place, at the wrong time, as an insane woman takes her revenge against the town they are visiting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This story covers my Pathfinder group's adventures in the Rise of the Runelords I, Burnt Offerings adventure module. As such, much of the overall storyline belongs to Paizo. Further, some text blocks are taken (mostly) directly from that module in order to form a coherent story. So, the standard fanfic disclaimers apply here: I am not claiming ownership; I am only playing in their world; this is not-for-profit; etc etc. If you like the story, and you are a gamemaster, please consider purchasing this module.
> 
> The heroes that rise to the challenge in this story, however, are dynamic characters. Each as their own desires, and will make changes to the overall story, as they try to shape the world to their desires. In some cases, they will actually “shortcut” some story elements; if you have ever gamemastered a group of creative players, you know how that sort of thing goes. If you wish to use these characters, or their individual story elements, in your own fictions, please mention me as the author that introduced you to them.
> 
> A note on our game. It is not 100% PRD-compliant. We have several house rules. Some of the characters have customized archetypes; a few have custom feats, and one even has a custom monster template. The actions these characters take may also not be PRD-compliant. I am one of those people that despise class-based systems; this is a workaround so that no character is bound by such a straghtjacket. This sort of thing is not for every group, but that's okay. For others, like me, Pathfinder RPG can be made “playable” with a few modifications, which then allows you to enjoy the content Paizo publishes in their modules. My point is, you will find instances of the characters doing things the rules say they shouldn't be able to do. When that happens, it is because of our mods to the system.
> 
> Finally, the requisite SPOILER ALERT: if you ever intend to play a character in this module, you shouldn't read this story. Seriously. It can ruin the adventure. If this is the case, I'd recommend you read the story after you've played through the module, and compare how well you did with my group. Be warned, however: my group sets a very high bar. We are not easily outdone.

# Introduction

The coastal town of Sandpoint has faced few trials and dangers over the course of its forty-two year history, but unfortunately, that is all about to change. Unknown to the town’s founders, they chose to build their community over the ruins of an ancient stronghold once used as laboratory and prison, a place where horrific experiments and unholy explorations into what divides man from monster took place. These are the Catacombs of Wrath, one of several such sites used by Runelord Alaznist’s apprentices during ancient Thassilon’s height, a place where arcanists explored and perfected the stolen arts of lifeshaping and fleshwarping. When the Empire of Thassilon fell, these catacombs went dormant, but the one buried under Sandpoint was not fated to stay that way.

Five years ago, a long-slumbering magic artifact hidden in the catacombs awakened. It sent a shockwave of magical energy up through the town above, manifesting in the form of violent nightmares from which many folk woke in a terrible rage that vanished in the span of a heartbeat. In a few unfortunate cases, however, the wrath found fertile soil.

Lonjiku Kaijitsu, a bitter noble who still seethed with rage at being cuckolded two decades before, woke in the middle of the night, called his wife to the back porch of their cliffside manor, and threw her over the edge to die on the jagged rocks below.

Jervas Stoot, an eccentric who channeled his rage from years of paternal abuse into the creation of hauntingly beautiful woodcarvings of birds, began to lay his plans for the murder of nearly two dozen folk who had wronged him over the years.

Nualia Tobyn, left pregnant and abandoned by a local cur and shamed in her foster father’s eyes, finally succumbed to her anger and forsook the goddess of dreams and stars for the goddess of monsters and madness, promising herself that she would burn her father and his church to the ground.

These three unfortunates became consumed by their wrath, and their actions over the course of the next several months came to be known as the Late Unpleasantness. Those days are over now, fresh in memory still, but thankfully past. The people of Sandpoint now prepare to consecrate a new cathedral to replace the old one Nualia burnt to the ground, and are eager to put all reminders of the Late Unpleasantness behind them for good.

Lonjiku’s murderous act has gone all but unnoticed, and Stoot is long dead, yet Nualia has not been idle over the past five years. She is ready to finish what she started with that first fire. This time, all of Sandpoint shall become burnt offerings to her insane goddess.

But all hope is not lost. There are a few unlikely heroes who would stand in her way. It is, however, too bad that they don't know what threat she represents. They don't even know her name.


	2. Festival and Fire

# Festival and Fire

## The Swallowtail Festival

The square before the church was already crowded by locals, travelers, and several merchant tents featuring food, clothes, local crafts, and souvenirs. The feeling was that of a holiday, as the mayor stepped up onto the podium.

“Hello. For those who are visiting, I am Kendra Deverin, the mayor of Sandpoint. I'd like to welcome you all to our festival, and to the dedication of our new cathedral. Today is an exiting day; even our local workaholic, Larz Rovanky, managed to tear himself away from his tannery to attend!” The crowd laughed at this, more from Larz's scowl than Kendra's joke. The mayor continued on for a bit, before giving way to the second speaker. Sheriff Hemlock, in turn, tried to be quick; everybody knew he hated public attention. He reminded everybody to be safe around the evening's bonfire, and requested a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in the fire that claimed the previous church, five years ago. Fortunately, the third speaker, Cyrdak Drokkus was more than up to the challenge of bringing everybody's spirits back up with his rousing anecdotes as he delivered a not-completely-irreverent recap of the long process the town went through to finance and construct the new cathedral. He threw in a bit of self-promotion at the end, as was his wont, inviting everyone to stop by the Sandpoint Theater the following evening to check out his new production of “The Harpy’s Curse,” revealing that the lead role of Avisera the harpy queen will be played by none other than the famous Magnimarian diva Allishanda! Finally, Father Zantus stepped up and give a short speech thanking everyone for coming before declaring the Swallowtail Festival underway.

Xavier Long watched all this from his vantage point up at the top of The Old Light. It was a huge ruin, built into the face of a 120 foot-tall cliff, and rising another 50 feet above that. He had already discussed The Old Light with Brodert Quink, the local sage, who was in disfavor for his beliefs that The Old Light was a war machine capable of hurling fire over a mile away. However, Xavier, by using his sailing knowledge (acquired by growing up in the pirate city of Riddleport), had already debunked the theory that it was a lighthouse, despite it being set on the Varisian coast. Lighthouses had two purposes. The first was as a warning of (Note: clarified passage) navigational hazard; if a ship could just barely see it over the curving horizon, the hazard was near – a lighthouse 700 feet tall (according to the best guesses of many engineers and masons) was much too tall for such a purpose. The second was as a beacon for a major city – the larger the city, the taller and brighter the beacon – so when ships got close in the night they knew which way to steer. A lighthouse 700 feet tall certainly qualified for such a use, but it implied a huge, sprawling city at the location, yet there were no ruins of such a city. Brodert was busy writing up an article for his Pathfinder Society, sure that eviscerating the “lighthouse theory” would redeem his reputation. Brodert was now a friend for life, and Xavier found that friends were always useful.

Xavier wasn't a local, having only arrived a week ago. He had escorted a woman from Riddleport, who was escaping her father, one of the crime lords that ran the place. Kristin was now in hiding, working as a tailor in the local shop. This of course meant there was a price on his head (but not his body), and as such meant he couldn't go back. But perhaps it was time to move on anyway. The gods had ways of kicking people in their asses for complacency; perhaps he had been too complacent in wanting everything to be “perfect” before leaving Riddleport.

He had spent the past week “casing” the town, wondering if it would suit his needs. There were things he wanted to do that couldn't be done in Riddleport, where strength was the ultimate decider of who got what. There was no way he could sell his inventions in that city without any such business being stolen by a crime lord. Sandpoint, however, seemed to respect individual rights much more than that, and so this might be a good place to start. He had already noticed a few businesses that were lacking in town; he could start by filling in those gaps. But those were part of his long-term plans. In the short-term, there were a fair number of visitors to check out. Logically they were all here for the festival, and so were present at the opening ceremony. This gave him time to study each from his vantage point, committing them to memory. Now that he had a list of people to see, it was time to go see them. Everybody has skills; everybody has stories; it was time to find out what those were.

## Ladies of the Wild

Idunnr hadn't known about the Swallowtail Festival; they were simply passing through. Idunnr was slender and frail looking, but truly, she was a sturdy Ulfen woman with pale blue eyes and long white-blonde braids. Being a tanner and leatherworker, she dressed mostly in leathers and furs. Two weeks ago, in the middle of a storm, she had found another woman out in the wilderness; naked, beaten, bloody, and unconscious, but alive. Idunnr did what she could to aid her. The woman had light brown skin and dark brown eyes. Her long hair was fine and silky, straight and almost black. When she awoke, Idunnr discovered she didn't speak Taldane. This was weird; who doesn't speak Taldane? So she muddled through as best she could. An exchange of names was easy; the stranger was Naediakalua, but Idunnr insisted on the shortened version, Nae. Nae had no idea where she was, having been magically transported there (which might explain the storm; it had appeared out of nowhere). Nae needed help, badly, and Idunnr was a sucker for such things. Fortunately for both, Idunnr happened to be a druid, and had no fewer then two lynx-like cats as animal companions, and so was able to avoid most of the dangers of the wilderness.

Over the next few weeks, Idunnr and Nae had learned enough of each other's languages to effect communication, although such attempts were still hit-and-miss. Nae turned out to be a ranger, but when her people had been attacked, she was magically sent away; she was sure they were all wiped out. From the descriptions, Idunnr knew they lived similarly to the Shoanti, although they obviously weren't (if they were, then Nae would at least know Taldane). Nae had nowhere to go to, and this of course tugged at Idunnr even more, for it was something they both sort-of shared, for Idunnr was on the run from her home. Neither wanted to talk details, however, at least until they were fluent enough to better understand each other.

They had arrived by the northern road, just in time for the festival's opening ceremonies. Cheap food and fun times were promised by the festival, and there was a gigantic ruin (some sort of tower, it looked like) not too far off that curiosity demanded exploring, too. Nae was excited by what she saw, and awestruck by the ocean view (evidently, her people did not live near any oceans). The people here were tolerant of Nae and her naivete; it seemed they would be tolerant of anything, as long as it was peaceful. After all, they had a Shoanti for a sheriff. The Shoanti were looked down on for being primitive, yet one of them was part of the town's leadership. Idunnr approved of the message that sent.

So the ladies enjoyed their morning in Sandpoint. They watched as, at noon, Father Zantus and his acolytes wheeled a large covered wagon into the square, and after recounting a short parable of how Desna first fell to earth and was nursed back to health by a blind child who she transformed into an immortal butterfly as a reward for her aid, they pulled aside the wagon’s cover, releasing the thousand children of Desna – a furious storm of a thousand swallowtail butterflies that swarmed into the air in a spiraling riot of color to a great cheer from the crowd. Throughout the rest of the day, children would futilely chase the butterflies, never quite quick enough to catch them.

Idunnr chose the afternoon to outfit Nae, who was still wearing a spare set of clothes borrowed from Idunnr. Both being wilderness survivalists, there were few essentials that were required: backpack, bags, bedroll, blanket, mirror, rope, soap, waterskin, weapons, and armor. Nae selected a bow and longspear for her weapons (no surprise there), but the ladies argued a bit before Idunnr convinced Nae to try on a chain shirt (and then argued a bit more before Nae was convinced to keep it). 

After the shopping spree, the ladies went back to enjoy the festival. Idunnr began wondering about where to settle down again; the thought of continually running away did not appeal to her. Nae, too, needed a new home. Heading to one of the Shoanti tribes might help Nae more. Another possiblity was them staying close to Sandpoint; this town was certainly tolerant enough. Eventually the ladies would have to make some sort of decision, but not yet.

Time would tell. It always does.

## The Boy

Morn had been following him around all morning. One boy, too young to be out on his own, but with no parents to be seen. They had both been on the same ship, out from Korvosa; the boy had worked for his passage in the kitchen, while Morn had been a paying passenger. He must have been no older than 12 from the youth on his face, although he was tall for 12. Morn had a chance to talk with the boy on the ship, but he was recalcitrant to talk – or even to tell Morn his name. So, he watched over the child, making sure no harm befell him, and making sure he caused no harm in turn. Sarenrae would expect no less.

He kept his hood up, and few paid him any attention. He didn't even have to order food; lunch at the festival was provided free, at the expense of Sandpoint’s taverns. Each brought its best dishes in a marketing push by the taverns, as much to win new customers as it was to feed a hungry crowd. Morn sampled the wares as he followed the boy around; he would agree that The Rusty Dragon's remarkable curry-spiced salmon and early winterdrop mead easily overshadowed the other offerings, such as the Hagfish’s lobster chowder or the White Deer’s peppercorn venison. When the boy went back for seconds, heading straight to the salmon and passing by the other offerings, it was obvious he agreed too.

“Good stuff, isn't it?” a stranger asked. Morn only grunted in response. “What's up with the boy?” was the second question, and only then did Morn take his eyes off the child and look at the stranger. He was dressed out in green, casual, loose-fitting clothing and grey cloak – all silk. His lithe body had deep-olive skin, sporting a head with wide, violet eyes, shoulder-length platinum-blond hair, and no beard. The term “Varisian Pretty-boy” immediately came to his mind, but Morn paid it no heed as he was intimately aware that looks could be deceiving. He didn't see any of the characteristic Varisian tattoos – they could be hidden, but Varisians liked to show them off; nor was he wearing any scarves like his people favored. In fact, his clothing was cut in Chelaxian styles, instead of Varisian.

However he did sport some ornamentation, but they weren't the typical Varisian ornamentation. He had two ear bracelets; the left was the golden bow-and-arrow symbol of Erastil, and the right was the rainbow-tailed silver songbird of Shelyn. He had two wrist bracelets as well; the left was silver, decorated with multicolored butterflies (Desna, of course) while the right was gold, decorated with the triple-daggers of Calistria. The final piece was a copper chain necklace, ending in the blue hand of Irori. All were partially covered by hair or clothing (which was unusual for a Varisian), but they were there nonetheless. He also had several tools on his belt, and a metal staff tied to his back along with a quiver of arrows, along with a bow.

“He's alone.” Morn replied. “No parents.”

“Hmm. He's a little young to be out and about on his own, isn't he?”

“That is why I watch him.”

The stranger smiled, in that way that said I find this funny for some reason, wished Morn luck, and walked away. Morn was tempted to stop the stranger and inquire further, but the boy was walking away too, so Morn chose to follow the boy instead.

## Fire

Father Zantus took to the small podium. The day had passed; the sun's setting rays painted the western sky. Xavier had climbed on top of the cathedral; The Old Light had the better view, but it was farther away; Xavier could make out more details from the cathedral's roof. Xavier watched on as the priest pulled out a thunderstone from a picket and tossed it to the ground. It created a sharp retort, like the crack of thunder, slicing through the excited crowd. A stray dog that had crawled under a nearby wagon to sleep started awake, and the buzz of two dozen conversations quickly hushed as all heads turned toward the central podium. He cleared his throat, took a breath to speak, and suddenly a woman’s scream sliced through the air. A few moments later, another scream rose, then another. Beyond them, a sudden surge of strange new voices rises – high-pitched, tittering shrieks that weren't quite human. The crowd parted and something low to the ground raced by, giggling with disturbing glee as the stray dog gave a pained yelp and then collapsed with a gurgle, its throat cut open from ear to ear. As blood pooled around its head, the raucous sound of a strange song begins, chanted from shrill, scratchy voices.

Goblins chew and goblins bite. Goblins cut and goblins fight. stab the dog and cut the horse, Goblins eat and take by force! Goblins race and goblins jump. Goblins slash and goblins bump. Burn the skin and mash the head, Goblins here and you be dead! Chase the baby, catch the pup. Bonk the head to shut it up. Bones be cracked, flesh be stewed, We be goblins! You be food!

Xavier watched as the first goblins attacked the two visiting ladies (more precisely, attacked the large cats that escorted the ladies everywhere); or at least tried to. The tiefling (that hooded cloak didn't fool Xavier for one minute) conjured grease as the goblins crawled out from under the wagon; they all tried to stand, each losing their footing. The boy, from the other side of the crowd, also cast a spell, which shot a bolt of fire from his hands, and, following a zig-zag path, impacted one of the goblins, which in turn set the grease on fire, consuming goblins and wagon alike. The two people then stared at each other for a moment in surprise at their unintended coordination.

While fighting the goblins, Mornilithe's cloak came open and his hood fell, showing all what he was. His staff seemed to almost be moving with a will of its own as Morn was attacked by goblins. Somehow, he was fighting as well as a warrior, while at the same time throwing spells at the attackers.

Those weren't the only goblins, however. Chaos engulfed Sandpoint as goblins raced everywhere, running amok and singing and slashing indiscriminately. The town guard was fighting as best they could, but it was obvious they were caught totally by surprise. From his vantage point, Xavier looked around, and noticed the wagon with all the fuel for the bonfire had been lit, and was moving to the cathedral. He moved across the rooftop to get a better view, and spied the 4 goblins pushing it, led by a singing goblin. He waited until they were in range, and cast Sleep at the monsters. Two resisted, so he did it again, which knocked them all out. The wagon came safely to a stop. Xavier climbed down, gathered his climbing rope, and then after stripping the goblins of their weapons, hog-tied them all together. The tiefling, boy, and two ladies had run up to the wagon by then, attracted by the fire.

In the distance a guard tripped while fighting a goblin, and the goblin jumped on top of the guard. Xavier had only reached for his bow when the black-haired woman's bow seemed to jump into her hands, which sent an arrow flying at the goblin, head-shotting it! Xavier ran up to the guard; when it was apparent the guard had escaped injury, Xavier tasked the guard with hauling the goblin prisoners to the town's jail for later interrogation.

With the initial attack over, the festival area had calmed somewhat. Here and there, the sounds of battle, clanging swords, calls of support by the town guard, and shrieking and singing goblins echoed through the streets, but at the festival itself, most of the citizens had fled. The head-shot goblin was the last alive in the area; many more lay dead, along with a few unfortunate citizens. It was obvious that the fight had moved on, especially when the sound of a scream and a frantic barking came from the north. With nobody else present to respond, Xavier took off running, followed by the small group that had gathered.

In front of the White Deer Inn, a goblin commando mounted on a goblin-dog bravely attacked a noble and his hunting dog. The noble cowered behind a rain barrel where he was calling for help, while his dog fought against the commando. They were just in time to see the goblin commando kill the dog with his horsechopper. The dog crashes dying to the ground as the commando’s goblin kin (who were themselves cowering nearby as the dog was handled) threw up a cheer and emerged from hiding. The five goblins were still distracted by their kill, and as they turned their attention to the noble, Xavier glanced at the woman who had so quickly killed that last goblin at range. She nodded and repeated her feat; the arrow hit the goblin square in the chest, catapulting his already-dead body off his mount.

Xavier had his bow out, too, with an arrow in the other hand. The moment the string was tight, however, Xavier pulled back and let his arrow fly, killing a second goblin. In the aftermath of the shot, however, the string bounced off the little wheels on the top and bottom of his bow, to which Xavier simply stared in slight annoyance.

The second woman shouted a command, and the two cats charged forward, pouncing on one goblin each. She pulled a sling, and took a shot with it, but missed at their long range. The tiefling cast another spell, and a magic bolt of force struck the goblin-dog, causing injury but not death. The goblin-dog, flanked by the two remaining goblins, charged forward, right into an arc of flame cast by the boy (dropping the injured goblin), and a spearpoint that stabbed clean through the goblin-dog (this from the woman who had taken that bowshot; her bow clattered to the ground almost as an afterthought). The final goblin attacked Xavier with his dogslicer, but only achieved a glancing blow that did no real harm. Xavier stepped back to take another shot, but spear-girl skewered the goblin first, and only then started removing both the goblin and the goblin-dog from her spear. The other girl ran to the noble.

The noble was uninjured, and profusely thankful. He glanced about nervously for more goblins, but saw none. He informs his saviors that he’d be in town for a few more days; he’s staying at the Rusty Dragon to the south, and when they get a chance, he’d love to talk with them more and perhaps reward them properly for saving his life.

By this time, the battle was decided. Surviving goblins fled north in droves, in some cases preferring to leap to their certain death off cliffs rather than be captured. Everybody split up to help the town as best they could, agreeing first to meet for breakfast the next day at The Rusty Dragon.


	3. Local Heroes

# Local Heroes

## Investigation

“Well, I think introductions are in order. I am Xavier Long. I suppose I'm a bard, although it feels like that 'simply happened'. I come from Riddleport, but this is my home now.” Having said it, he was now committed. There were several things he would do in his new home, more than he was able to in Riddleport. Being considered a “hero” among the locals certainly helped. He came downstairs from his rented bedroom, and was greeted by cheers. His breakfast – actually, everybody's breakfasts – were “on the house”. And he wasn't alone. The rest of this new group were also being treated to the “hero treatment”. That was the final element in his decision; invested properly, that goodwill would go a long way. In fact, the crowd (yes, the town was listening in) voiced their approval at this.

The woman with the cats called herself Idunnr. She was Ulfen, and a druid. She also spoke for Nae, who still knew little Taldane. (This caused murmurs; who doesn't know Taldane?) Nae was a ranger, and was transported here magically, probably from another continent. They had been just passing through when the attack happened, but were glad to help out.

The man with the hooded cloak finally put his hood back, revealing his horns and red-tinged, bald scalp. When nobody flinched, he stated his name as “Mornilithe, but you can call me Morn,” and identified himself as a Magus. The tiefling then stared at the boy; it was obvious they had at least some knowledge of each other.

The boy stared back at Morn before sighing and turning away from him. “I am Aerodus Charthagnion. I am a sorcerer.” he stated.

“That's a bit long-winded for use in combat,” Xavier observed. “You like fire, right? Very well then, I nickname you, 'Char'. Its short, and appropriate.”

“I don't intend to be fighting. I only did this, for self-defense.”

“You're moving on, then?”

“Yes.”

“Are you looking for something? Because the people here would love to take you in.” Again, the town voiced their approval. But the boy squirmed on the spot, so Xavier let it drop.

“Okay, about last night. There are probably several stories, now. Goblins hiding in rain barrels after the fight, and drowning even though they were only half full, is the one that I heard about while helping clean up after the raid.” Xavier turned to the crowd. “Any others?”

“This one goblin tried to start a fire, but only managed to light himself on fire,” one local said to the amusement of everybody. Xavier matched face to name, having checked out the prominent locals. This was Cryddak Drokkus, who was probably hunting for a story to make into a play.

“Daviren let his horses out,” another local said (this one not a prominent one). “He then aimed the horses at the goblins, and let the horses stomp on them. Must've killed a dozen, that way.” This declaration got cheers from the crowd.

“So, while things could have been worse, the goblins didn't really have a chance, did they?” Xavier asked, and received various nods in return. “How many of them were killed? 30? 50? … 100?”

“Less than 100,” Cryddak said, “but more than 50.”

“Too few to actually destroy the town. So, if the intent was not to destroy everything, then what was it?”

“What could goblins do, other than try to destroy? They're not very smart. I'm surprised they knew enough Taldane for that stupid song of theirs.” Idunnr said.

“What, indeed?” Xavier replied. “I think its time we found out. Anybody speak Goblin?” Nobody spoke up. “Okay, then, I need someone to go to the mayor, another to the sheriff, and someone else to go to the priest. Find out what they know, and report back here, say for lunch. Any volunteers?”

“I shall talk to the priest,” Morn volunteered.

“We'll talk to the Mayor and Sheriff,” Idunnr said, indicating she'd bring Nae with her.

“They're not going to want to talk to a kid,” Char pointed out.

“Then you can come with me, that is, if you want to be part of this.” Xavier replied, and after a moment, Char nodded, much to the crowd's delight.

“What will you be doing?” Morn asked of Xavier.

“I'm going to consult an expert on goblins.” Xavier declared; he knew exactly who to go to.

The group broke up a few minutes later, their breakfasts finished. Xavier led Char out towards the Goblin Squash Stables, but was waylaid en-route by an ancient-looking woman, who pressed a folded paper into his hand. “You will save us all. You MUST save us all.” She told him with wide eyes before Xavier could move on.

“What was that about?” Char asked as they continued to their destination.

Xavier unfolded the paper and looked at it. On it was a drawing of his tattoo. It was something from his birth, really too big to be a birthmark, stretching from his thigh, and rising halfway up his chest, and it had changed over the years, but currently it was very similar, perhaps even identical, to how his tattoo looked – more precisely, it looked like the ancient Thassalonian rune for Wrath. He studied the drawing for a moment before re-folding the paper. “I have no idea,” he lied. Pretending that it didn't matter, he continued on, only able to finally put it out of his mind after a new challenge appeared.

Daviren was working inside his stables, trying to mount shoes onto a rather spirited filly who was having none of what Daviren was offering. She was bucking so hard the stable walls were at risk of coming apart. Hand-signaling for Char to stay behind, he walked up to the filly, concentrating, and felt his magic make its connection to the beast. Using that connection, he prompted the beast to calm down, just as Daviren noticed his presence. Daviren was about to warn Xavier back, but Xavier's calming effect on the horse gave him pause. Xavier let himself into the pen, stroking the horse's face and mane, whispering sweet nothings into its ear. A minute later, Xavier looked at Daviren, and nodded at him, prompting Daviren to get back to his work; thus working, Daviren had 4 new horseshoes put on the animal in record time.

“I don't really have the business to hire someone on, but I'm willing to give you references to someone I know in Magnimar,” Daviren said once the job was finished.

“I'm not here for a job. I was coming here to ask you some questions, but it appears you needed my help, so I helped.”

“Oh. Okay, well, thanks for that. What can I do for you?”

“We have some questions about goblins. I understand you're quite the expert,” Xavier said, nodding at the goblin ears that were tacked to the rafters.

“You're two of last night's heroes, aren't you?”

“That's right.” Char said. “I'm surprised you don't know us by name already. Everybody else seems to.”

Daviren paused, before deciding to treat the kid like an adult. “Heh. That's what happens in a small town; that is, if you're not busy working like me. What would you like to know?”

“Well, for starters, our best guesses are that we were attacked by somewhat less than a hundred goblins.” Daviren nodded at Xavier's statement. “That wasn't enough to overcome the town's defenses, especially on a day where there would be more people visiting, and thus more people able to defend the town. I'm not sure the intent was to destroy everything.”

“Well, about a hundred goblins may be as much as they could spare, across all the tribes.” Daviren paused, but Xavier didn't say anything, so he continued. “There are five tribes of goblins local to Sandpoint. Each numbers less than a hundred individually. Discount the females, who rarely do anything except breed, and the younglings, and you're probably looking at about two dozen per tribe, able to fight. What's really interesting is that they typically fight against each other.”

“So, something got them focused on Sandpoint?”

“It appears that way. My guess is a -”

“Diversion.” Both said the word, at the same time.

“Someone united the goblins, then used them to attack us, knowing the goblins would lose, but keeping us occupied all the same.” Xavier stated, and Daviren nodded. “Logically, they are either still with the goblins, or the goblins themselves will have clues that would point us to who was responsible, as well as what the ultimate goal is – or was.” Daviren nodded again. “Do you know where these tribes are located?”

“No, but I know a way for you to find them.”

“Go on.”

“Goblins harvest materials for their clothing from sources local to their camps.”

“So, by analyzing the clothing materials from goblins of each set, we could then locate each tribe.”

“Good.” Daviren smiled. “I thought you looked smart. I might be able to help with some of the clothing materials; for others, you may need to see Hannah Velerin.”

“The local herbalist.” Xavier replied, and Daviren nodded. “Makes sense. Also, we captured a small number of them, but nobody I've talked to so far speaks goblin, and I doubt they know any more Taldane than that stupid song of theirs.”

Daviren nodded again. “And the sheriff won't be of any use either. He does his best, but still. Okay, I'll help. Just let me close up shop temporarily. You've saved me hours of work anyway. I don't suppose you'd be interested in buying her?”

“Sorry, I don't really have a need for a horse right now.”

“Well, let me know when you do, and we'll work something out. That goes for the both of you.”

“Once we do find where to look for more clues, what do you expect we'll encounter?”

“Traps. Lots and lots of traps. Also, they wield distinctive weapons, as I'm sure you've noticed. They're called dogslicers and horsechoppers, after their preferred uses. A dogslicer is a length of junk metal tied to a handle with holes punched in the blades to lighten it and prevent tired goblin arms. It's a light martial weapon that’s similar to a short sword in most ways, save that it deals slashing damage rather than piercing damage. Goblin commandos are instead armed with something similar to a small halberd, called “horsechoppers” by them, but otherwise identical to actual halberds. Goblin weapons are poorly made, sufficient that they can break during combat. They should really carry spare dogslicers, but they don’t think that far ahead, and occasionally end up standing in front of an enemy without a weapon, stupid little freaks. They also steal from Junker's Edge; its where they get their metal.”

“So Sandpoint has provided the very materials they use to attack us with?” Char asked.

“Yes, I see the irony too. There should be a better way of getting rid of the trash, but I don't see it.”

“What about Otyughs? Korvosa uses them.” Char suggested.

“You've been to Korvosa?” Xavier asked, and Char nodded. “What are these Otyughs like?”

“They stay in the sewers, consuming anything organic. I didn't see any of them, though, so I don't know much more than that. However, Korvosa's harbor was as clean as any oceanfront could possibly be. No smell, even.”

This seriously impressed Xavier. Riddleport had that characteristic stench from people dumping their waste into the street, waiting for the rains to wash it away. Its harbor was so filthy you'd need to be desperate to swim in it. “Hmm, so: dig a pit, stick some in there, and feed them Sandpoint's trash. No. Dig two pits, so you can move the Otyughs to the fresh pit, while people clean out all the inorganic matter from the used pit, which can then be reforged and such into usable material. You'd need enough Otyughs for breed-stock, or get continual imports from...where do you normally find Otyughs?” Both Char and Daviren shrugged, so Xavier let it drop for now.

A few minutes later, Daviren was ready to go. On the way, he talked more about goblins. They hate and fear horses, who tend to step on them if they get too close. They also hate and fear dogs almost as much as they do horses; the “goblin dog” is not actually a canine, but more similar to giant rats than wolves. Goblins love junkyards, as it is there they get whatever they can't put together from local materials. They're sneaky, and they love to sing, but that's old news. They're stupid, crazy, and like fire – never a good combination. They're voracious, so much so that they almost have to raid their neighbors, just to get food to eat. Their wide heads sometimes get stuck in cramped quarters. Finally, goblins believe writing steals your soul, although drawings and maps are okay.

The jail was in the basement of the garrison. The three of them walked in; the guards, recognizing two of their heroes, let them pass. The guards had done nothing except throw them into a jail cell and lock the door. Remains of rope lay where the goblins had chewed through it; all five were free of the rope, but couldn't get through the jail's bars.

The interrogation went rather quickly, once Xavier used his magic charm on the obvious leader. The goblins were given orders to kill everyone in town and burn down the place. None of the captured goblins knew their leader’s name, apart from the fact that he was one of “you longshanks.” Their leader was on a secret mission to the town’s graveyard, but none of them know what that mission was. They also knew that leader was not staying with their tribe, the Mosswood Goblins (Daviren later verified their clothing matched Mosswood materials).

“Are we going to check out the graveyard?” Char asked after Daviren returned to his stables.

“After lunch, when we're all together,” Xavier replied. “We have a different destination for now.”

Xavier led Char over to Junker's edge. All the town's trash was dumped over the side, including the goblins' dead bodies. Xavier looked around. “We need a rope to get down there safely.” Xavier paused. “The general store will probably have the rope we need, and we're closing in on lunch. So we buy the rope, eat lunch, then come back.”

At lunch, the rest of the group expressed disappointment. The mayor knew nothing; she hadn't been briefed yet by the sheriff. The sheriff, in turn, resented the heroes' involvement in the investigation, and the priest simply referred all questions to the sheriff. They were covering something up. Idunnr was so furious, she was ready to leave Sandpoint to its fate, except that the local baker had intercepted her on the way back, pressing a fresh-baked loaf of bread into her arms with worried comments that she must be starving, as skinny as she was. Idunnr found it hard to hold onto her anger, after that.

The news that the attack really was a diversion, and the leader had went for something in the graveyard, spurred more anger. The graveyard was Father Zantus's domain; surely he knew if anything had happened there, but refused to talk. This also caused murmurs among the crowd, who at the moment was not too pleased with the behavior of their leaders.

“Fortunately the townsfolk themselves have been much more helpful.” Xavier mentioned, brightening the crowd's mood. “Daviren in particular was very helpful.” Xavier explained what they had discovered, as well as their next step. “If any of you will be following me down Junker's Edge, you had best eat light. I doubt the air at the bottom of the cliff is very nice. We also need to check out the graveyard, and possibly confront the priest.”

Idunnr and Nae talked it over; Nae, who was skilled at climbing, would follow Xavier down, while the rest waited above. Then all would go to the graveyard.

It didn't take Xavier and Nae long to get the other four clothing samples that would lead them to their respective tribes. They came back up smelly; Idunnr had to talk Nae down from her nausea, as Nae had a particularly sensitive nose.

Xavier chose to have everybody climb the wall to enter the graveyard; that rope was useful for this, too, and Xavier didn't want the priest to know they were snooping around yet. Inside the graveyard, the heroes found goblin tracks. These tracks range from the edge of a graveyard – a ladder, probably used by the raiders, was still resting against the outside wall, as was a knotted rope that dangled down the inside wall – to one gravesite, recently opened and desecrated. The headstone said this was the final resting place of Ezakien Tobyn, priest of Sandpoint; Ezakien's corpse, however, was no longer present. In addition to the goblin tracks, were human-sized bootprints (male, from the looks of it), and a larger goblin-ish footprint; Xavier made a quick drawing of the new track in his journal.

Following the trail out of the graveyard, the characters came to the Turandarok River; the river meant there was no chance of following the trail further.

Xavier decided to approach Father Zantus alone, feeling that the priest would be more likely to confide in one person, than if he were ganged up on. He sent everybody else on; Char and company would take the clothing materials first to Daviren, then Hannah if needed, and meet Xavier back at the inn.

“Father Zantus!” Xavier cried out, running into the Cathedral from the graveyard. The priest looked up as Xavier ran towards him, noting the direction he was coming from with a frown. “Father Tobyn's grave has been desecrated!”

The priest didn't bat an eye. “You shouldn't have been in the graveyard, my child. I had the graveyard sealed off.”

Xavier stopped, dropping all pretense. “You knew then. You knew, yet you said nothing.”

“I told the sheriff; that's all you need to know.”

“You told the wrong person, then. I've heard the sheriff tries his best, but is not sufficiently skilled at this sort of thing.”

“You should trust in your leaders.” The priest returned to his studies.

“Did you tell him about the goblin footprints? Or the human footprint?” That bit caused the priest to express surprise. “Or the ...bugbear footprint?” Now the priest's mouth dropped open. “Actually, I'm guessing on that last one, but its goblin-ish, and larger than goblin-normal. Also, how about the rope, and ladder, that we found by following the tracks to where they entered the graveyard?” Now the priest was pale. “Tell me, when you told the sheriff about the grave, did he investigate? Did he even step foot to see all this for himself? I know he's well respected, and I know he deserves that respect, but he. Is. Not. The. Right. Person. For. This. Job.” Xavier sat down on a pew close-by; the priest approached, then collapsed onto the pew next to Xavier.

Xavier paused for a little while, allowing Father Zantus to recover. Manipulating people's emotions was rather easy when you're an empath; Xavier knew he had Father Zantus's cooperation now. “I don't want the Sheriff's job. He's got it rough; I know that. But he can't solve this. He can't bring Father Tobyn back.” This last caught the priest's attention. “I can. Help me.” Xavier pleaded.

“What do you need to know?” the priest asked, humbled.

“The highest probability of someone stealing something is family. That goes double for something like remains. Tell me about his family.”

“He had been married once, but she passed away several years before The Late Unpleasantness. He had an adopted daughter, but she died in the fire with him. He had no other close relatives.”

“Did she?” Xavier asked, frowning. “Did she really die? Where is she buried?”

“We never found her remains. We did erect a monument next to her father's grave, though.”

“But you found Father Tobyn's remains.” Father Zantus nodded. “Who died in the same fire. The same fire that totally destroyed his adopted daughter's remains.” Father Zantus paused, thinking about the logic of the connection there. “What was her name?”

“Nualia. Nualia Tobyn.”

“Did she have any friends?”

“There was Delek Viskanta. He got her pregnant, then fled town rather than take responsibility.” Xavier suppressed a chuckle as the priest continued. “But he was found in Magnimar, a year ago, with his throat slit open.”

There was no need to chuckle, after that last bit. “Sounds like she got her revenge on him. Anything else you know about her?”

“She...You can't tell people this. We've kept it a secret. Please, can you respect that?”

“Okay.”

“She gave birth, and the baby was...deformed, monstrous. It actually tried to attack the midwife. We took it away, and … disposed of it. Nualia, by then, had slipped into a coma. Then the fire happened; maybe she woke up and caused it? Maybe she too was changed by that birth.”

“And you want me to keep it quiet because you killed a baby.”

“That thing was evil. I wasn't as powerful a priest as I am now, but even then I could detect the evil that ran throughout the foul thing. But some people wouldn't understand. It was a devil-child. There was nothing else we could do with it.”

Xavier considered this for a minute. “I'll keep your secret. I recognize there are things you sometimes have to do, that others probably wouldn't understand.” The priest visibly relaxed at this, and even quietly started crying. “Still, it was a male's bootprint; I'm pretty sure of it. It's a long-shot, but I should ask the mayor if anybody notable wasn't there at the festival, and conversely, who was.”

“And we've only just consecrated this new cathedral, too.” Father Zantus sighed. “What do you think Nualia wants with her father's remains?”

“Seriously?” the priest nodded at Xavier's question. “My first guess is that she intends to raise him as a powerful undead monster, using her family connection to control him. Something like a lich, I'd guess. Then I expect she'll unleash it on this town. If she pulls that off, well, I have no idea how to stop that.

## The Shopkeep's Daughter

“Kendra Deverin.” Xavier asked at the door.

Mayor Devarin looked up. “How did you get in here? My assistant should have stopped you.”

“Don't get too angry with her. Girls are suckers for a pretty face, especially when it's attached to a hero.” Xavier gave Kendra his characteristic smile. Truth be told, he'd had to charm that girl to get past her; his looks and reputation alone hadn't been quite enough.

“I really don't have time to deal with any interruptions.”

“Even if the fate of the town is at stake?” Kendra paused. “I have information that points to the creation of a powerful undead monster, that will logically destroy this town after being animated.”

“How?”

“How much information has the sheriff told you?”

She paused. “This is related to the attack?”

“Oh, yes. That attack was a diversion.”

Another pause, still suspicious but less sure. “There was no indication of that.”

“Did the sheriff tell you about the desecrated grave?” Kendra nodded, confused. “Did the sheriff tell you whose it was?”

“Does it matter?”

“One, singular grave, in the entire graveyard; the only one that was touched at all; of course it matters. It matters all the more when you know whose remains were buried inside.”

“Whose?”

“Father Tobyn's.” Xavier couldn't have affected Kendra more if he had punched her. He continued. “There's quite a bit going on; some of it doesn't add up yet, but many pieces of this puzzle are coming together. It appears that Father Tobyn's daughter survived that fire, and stole off with his remains, except she had others doing it for her. One of those others was a human male, from the size of his fresh bootprints around Father Tobyn's grave.”

Kendra started. “How can anybody cooperate with goblins of all things?”

“Not just cooperate; use. The goblins were sent to their deaths. They had no real chance of destroying Sandpoint. They were there only to cause chaos while the real raid was accomplished. They were a diversion. My guess is that Nualia learned some new tricks in the past five years, and intends to create that undead monster out of the remains of her father, then use that family connection to control the monster. It's the most logical thing to do with the remains of the dead, if you're so inclined.”

“And you've worked all this out, in less than a day?”

“Well, I'm not quite done, yet. I'm here in an attempt to track down the owner of that male bootprint. Its a long-shot, I know, but was there anybody you know of, that was supposed to be at the festival, but didn't show? For that matter, can you give me a list of names that were there; the people on the list will obviously be innocent of any wrongdoing.”

“You think it was somebody in town?”

“I don't know, either way. I'm just exploring the options.”  
Kendra spent a few minutes writing down a list of names. “These are all I can think of right now, but as I think of more I'll make a new list and get it to you.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, Lonjiku Kaijitsu was sick. Still is, or so I hear.”

“Sick, eh? You realize that puts him at the top of my list?” Kendra nodded. “And that, being a founding family member, there's nothing I can do to check him out?”

“I'll have the sheriff look into it.” Kendra muttered weakly.

“Yeah, good luck with that.” Xavier responded, which in turn irked the mayor.

“We have procedures we have to follow for such things! We can't just allow a newcomer to barge in and investigate our citizens, especially the prominent ones.”

“Yes, yes, I know. Everything you do has to be legal.”

“Don't you dare invade his privacy! You may have the gratitude of this town, but that does not give you the right to break our laws.”

“So, we leave this to a person that has proven incapable of leading this investigation.” Xavier paused, letting that sink in. “Well, you're the mayor. The ultimate responsibility for all this rests in your hands. I have a few other leads to work on; I gladly leave this one to you.”

“You want me to question him?” Kendra asked warily.

“I want you to handle it. Feel free to do it your way, whatever 'your way' is. You'd have better luck with it anyway. Nobles tend to dislike commoners like me asking pointed questions.”

Kendra stared at Xavier for a moment, mostly mollified. “Nobles like me, you mean?” she asked sharply.

“Case in point,” Xavier agreed with a smirk.

Xavier left the Town Hall with a fair amount of spare time on his hands. The group would meet up at dinner to compare notes. He spent most of his time flirting with the ladies here and there, until one girl in particular approached him.

Shayliss Vinder bashfully approached Xavier, asking for help with the family store. “The store has rats, you see. Why, just yesterday, I was sure I saw one the size of a goblin hiding behind a barrel at the far end of the basement. Daddy doesn't believe me, but he's more distracted by what my sister is up to at the lumber mill. But since you're here, well, I thought maybe you could come back with me to kill a few rats in the basement. I'm certain you can handle it alone; I've not seen many rats in the basement.”

Xavier regarded her politely through her obviously prepared speech. He didn't need empathy to see her duplicity, or her desire for him. In fact, there was a rumor about town that she was rather loose. It seemed in this case at least, the rumor was true. Xavier mentally shrugged; she was on the list of girls he was interested in, anyway. Smart (not as smart as Xavier, but certainly smart enough), very charming, and so on; she hit all of Xavier's “likes”, and here she was, trying to hit on him.

Xavier wasn't one to look a gift horse in the face. “I should get my equipment, though. Its in my room. Follow me?” Shayliss nodded, and Xavier noted a spike in her desire; she would probably try to seduce him in his room, not that you can seduce the willing.

Once they were in his room, he asked with a knowing smile, “So, should I get my things, or is there something else you'd like to do first?” That was all it took for Shayliss to throw herself into his arms, and Xavier threw himself into the moment. He would later descend for dinner, having earned his appetite for food, while Shayliss snuck away, back to her shop (she admitted it was all an attempt to bed him). It was obvious, however, upon sitting down, that Nae knew what he had been up to, if not with whom. In turn, Xavier simply gave her an amused smile.

Morn laid out the clothing scraps. “This one comes from the western edge of the devil's platter. This one, from Brinestump Marsh. This one is from Shank's Wood, and this one from Nettlewood. And we already know about Mosswood.”

“Excellent.” Xavier remarked, before telling them how he shamed both the priest and mayor into helping him, while avoiding the sheriff, who was probably too stubborn to be shamed. Of course, with the whole town listening in, the name “Nualia Tobyn” would quickly make its rounds, but at least there was a name to attach to the attack now.

Xavier declared his intent to “visit” the tribes, explaining that he had magic that would allow him to perform interrogations from a distance. Using those interrogations they could figure out what was going on in each tribe, without having to mount full raids. Idunnr suggested that since the locations were relatively local, they do all 5 that very night. This was indeed better than doing one per night, as it only meant one night's lost sleep, so everybody agreed.

Mornilithe spent the night pondering. This place was unlike anywhere else he had been. The obviousness of his ancestry has seemed to not bother anyone, including Father Zantus, who sure recognized what he was. Sons of the devil Asmodeus simply were not able to walk among normal mortals without causing major fearful reactions. 

He had found the boy and the cathedral he dreamed of. What do these have to do with the anger he had felt in his dreams? What is Sarenrae trying to show him?

## Scouting

The group rapidly developed a method for advancing into goblin territory at night. Both Nae and Xavier had no problems seeing in the dark, and both were excellent at stealth, so one would take up position while the next secured a more forward position, “leap-frogging” each other. Meanwhile the rest of the group would advance up to the secondary position; the added range to any potential encounters kept the entire group stealthy.

Nettlewood was the first target, simply because Brinestump Marsh on the other side of the Sandpoint Hinterlands would be the most miserable area to scout, and if the marsh was to be done last, it made the most sense to do them all in geographic order. Briars and thistles rampantly grow here, all dense and tangled, and rather damp from the fog that lay heavily in the air. As they closed in on their target, the density of the briars only increased; it didn't block the sound of waves crashing on the unseen shores, but it certainly blocked sight and access to those shores. Few trees grew this close to the edge of the sea, but the briars themselves often reached heights to rival them; in some places, the patch was nearly twenty feet high.

Nae found a cleverly constructed rigid mat of thistles and nettles that hid the entrance to a four-foot-high tunnel, leading further into the briars. Nae was rather careful with opening this “thistle door”, in order to avoid the thorns, but still managed to get it open.

The group continued into the tunnels, stooping over and hunkering down to make their way, effectively squeezing through to move. This slowed their rate of advancement further, although they did find larger nettle chambers with higher ceilings that allowed more freedom of movement. These tunnels were definitely crafted by and for goblins.

As if she needed any confirmation, the kennel of goblin-dogs was sufficient. The floor and walls of this musty-smelling chamber were covered with matted, wiry fur. Well-gnawed bones lay scattered about the floor, and a dozen wooden stakes had been driven into the ground near the walls in order to contain the beasts. Ugly, stinking, craven, and foul-tempered, only the lowest creatures bothered with the rat-faced canines. It’s no surprise that goblins found kindred spirits in the shunned, disgusting beasts. Constantly itching, afflicted with a species-wide case of mange exacerbated by prolific dander, even the healthiest goblin dogs looked sickly and starved. They had beady eyes, and the protruding teeth of a rat grown grotesquely large. Tiny clawed forelimbs and a long, hairless pink tail added to their verminous appearance, and the smell of sun-baked sewage practically steamed off their patchy fur.

Four of them were in the kennel, obviously built to contain more. They were nocturnal creatures, and were thus awake, but hadn't seen Nae, nor smelled her. (How could they, stinking like they did?) She motioned Xavier up, and drew her bowstring back, arrow notched and ready to fly at the first sign of trouble. Xavier cast a spell; three of the dogs fell unconscious, and the fourth looked around in surprise. The shot was made more difficult due to the confines of the tunnels, but she still put the arrow through the dog's throat. She used her spear to quietly execute the other three creatures, before the group moved on.

A cloying musky scent laid heavy in the air of the next chamber. A matted nest of slightly-moving red and black hair sat on the far end. Xavier cast another sleep spell, and whatever was in the nest stopped moving. Nae approached, discovering a fire pelt (a type of cougar, its fur a mix of red and black stripes) in the nest. It was probably an animal companion, similar to Idunnr's great cats, as such beasts weren't typically domesticated. This eventuality, however, was something she could test for and respond to. As the rest of the group entered the chamber, she hefted her spear and ended the fire pelt.

An anguished cry rose from the next chamber, and a goblin ran up to the entrance, visible to all. This was was slightly better dressed than the others, sporting ornamentation from what seemed to be a fair number of animal kills. Nae only barely registered that, however, because she was already taking action; the test was true, and now she would respond. She had already pulled her bola out of one of her backpack's side pouches. With one swing overhead, she let it fly at the goblin, wrapping him up and knocking him over.  
Her other companions reacted quickly, too, although not as fast as she did. In seconds they had the goblin at spear-point, who in turn stopped struggling against the bola.

“Tangletooth! You killed Tangletooth, you bastards!” He cried.

“We're about to kill you, too, if you don't be quiet,” Xavier replied. The goblin didn't stop crying, but he did moderate his volume down to sobbing.

“Its all the longshank's fault,” the goblin sobbed before catching his breath, and staring at Xavier fearfully.

“Explain,” was all Xavier said.

“You're here because of what we did to Sandpoint. You're here to kill us all!”

“Keep talking, and you might live.”

“Warchief Ripnugget has become enthralled with some of you lot, including an angry woman with weird eyes and a torn-up belly. She was the one that wanted the attack on your town. Worse than a harpy, that one!” Gogmurt spat. Then quickly clarifies his accusation: “The woman. Not Chief Ripnugget. Don’t tell him I called her a harpy!

“I beg of you, don't hurt any more goblins! If you can get into Ripnugget's fort and get rid of her and her friends, no goblin will ever bother Sandpoint again! Its the angry lady and her friends that's the troublemakers! Not goblins!”

Xavier chuckled at this, and continued his interrogation. The pitiful creature's name was Gogmurt, and according to him, he didn't want the town to be attacked, for fear of reprisals like this one. He told   
Xavier that the woman had four dangerous allies of her own, a brutish bugbear mercenary named Bruthazmus who lived for many years in a hut on the northeastern side of Nettlewood, a quiet human man who wore lots of metal armor, a dark-skinned violent human woman who’s used fire to scorch several goblins who got too close to her, and a male half-elf who seemed too happy all the time and who sometimes played the flute. Gogmurt suspects that the half-elf and the angry woman with the torn-up belly were lovers, because he’s seen them “going at it like donkey rats” in the woods at times. He woefully muttered that this news only made Chief Ripnugget angrier when the druid tried to use it in an attempt to win back his chieftain’s favor. Xavier finally ended the interrogation by pulling out his sap, clubbing Gogmurt over the head with it, stripping the goblin down, hog-tying him up (and returning Nae's bola), and dumping him into a sack.

“We need to interrogate more, so we can verify what he says is the truth,” Xavier declared. “I'm also still concerned about the other tribes. Nae couldn't find fault with that reasoning, so they returned to their mission.

Heading north to the coast, they encountered a rope bridge that spanned the gulf between the cliff and a roundish, flat-topped island some sixty feet to the north. Thick patches of nettles and briars grew here and there atop the island, but its most impressive feature was a wooden one-story stockade. Two thirty-foot-tall watchtowers guarded the stockade’s southern facade. The rope bridge itself was made of hairy rope and thick wooden planks; the whole thing creaked and swayed in the wind above the churning surf eighty feet below. Nae didn't fancy anybody's chances at crossing that bridge, nevermind killing the goblins inside, but Xavier had no intention of attacking. Instead, he made a quick drawing of the sight before returning to the tunnels.

Aside from the three abandoned watchtowers, there were only two other chambers of note. The first had a deep pit; when a rock was dropped into the pit a splashing noise was heard. Nae estimated the pit was over 50 feet down, which would roughly correspond to the waterline. Xavier elected to skip the pit for now; this was only recon, after all.

The second chamber was thirty feet in diameter, low-ceilinged and filled with smoke. A shallow fire pit smoldered in the center of the floor, while nine tangled reed and leaf nests lined the walls. Ten goblins were here; one saw Nae and gave an alarm; all rose. Half charged her while half shot at her with their bows.

The goblins had numbers, and an apparently insane desire for death, but other than that, lacked any advantages. Nae had several of her own, however. Firstly, that chain shirt she had been fretting about did its job against the arrows; she would have to admit to being wrong about that. Only one hurt her, and that was no more than a flesh wound. Second, she was talented enough with her spear that she was able to use the spear's reach to strike at each of the charging goblins, killing three of them outright. Thirdly, Xavier was right behind her, and, waiting for that moment, killed the fourth of the goblins with his own spear. All of the sudden the five-to-one melee odds were down to one-to-one, and the archers couldn't fire for fear of hitting their comrade.

The archers fired anyway, though. One arrow bounced off her chain armor, and another flew wide, but the other three pincushioned their own ally. Nae smirked; stupid goblins. Xavier cast a spell, and 3 of the five goblins fell to the ground, unconscious. She heard Morn and Char casting spells; an energy bolt, and a magic firework, both shot out and hit another goblin, killing it. Nae herself charged the final archer, and the battle was won.

Xavier went up to the unconscious goblins and cast a spell on each. “Okay, I'm done here. We need to leave these three alive. I'm pretty wiped from this though; I think we'll need to scout out the other tribes another night.” Everybody agreed; Nettlewood alone was rough. They could still get some sleep if they returned to town now.

The jail was mostly on the way to the inn, though, and the goblin captive needed to be disposed of. Nae and the rest of the group watched as he dumped the goblin in a cell, next to the one occupied by the other, now-starting goblins. Gogmurt woke up as Xavier locked the door. “See these goblins?” Xavier said. “See how they're starving? They're going to starve to death in there, for what they did. Its going to be slow and painful. Now, at the moment, you are our prisoner, but you did not attack Sandpoint, so I plan to actually feed you. If you try anything threatening while you're in there, I will let you starve, that is if these guards don't kill you first. But as long as you sit there quietly, and do as you're told, I'll release you after we've dealt with the angry woman.”

“Please don't kill goblins! There are not enough left to hurt Sandpoint anyway!” Gogmurt begged.

“If goblins fight us, goblins die. If goblins leave us alone, goblins live. If you tell me how to get to the angry woman without having to fight goblins, I will listen. But not tonight. I will bring food in the morning.” Xavier turned to leave, before adding. “Oh, if you escape, I will find you, and I will kill you.”

Morning brought breakfast, and fresh pastries “on the house” from the Avertin bakery. Nae's nose told her more, though. The smell of the Avertins – both of them – were all over Xavier. It was difficult to smell the difference between twins, but she was sure of it, since both of the Avertin's smelled of Xavier.

“Sleep well?” Nae asked pointedly.

“Oh, it was very restful, thank you.” Xavier replied, seemingly unaware of Nae's knowledge. “You should try some of these; they're very good.” He motioned to the pastry boxes that the Avertins were placing on the table, although from the blushes from the twins, he might as well have been motioning to the twins.

Nae grumbled, but kept her mouth shut.

Xavier had already seen the captive goblin that morning, he related, but only to toss him some stale bread. Interrogation could wait until after everybody had eaten. Idunnr suggested they continue the recons after the interrogation; goblins were naturally nocturnal creatures anyway, so night-only excursions didn't make as much sense. Xavier considered this, and agreed.

The interrogation went rather quickly. Xavier had obviously planned on Gogmurt thinking about what to say, because the goblin was ready. Gogmurt explained about a cave that led to a secret door inside the dungeon complex inside Thistletop itself. He said the angry woman, and her 4 allies, had almost exclusive rights to that area; the goblins tended to stay away. If the heroes were to swim there, then climb up to the cave, they would find little goblin resistance. The watchtowers that the goblins used to keep watch over the sea were also unmanned, due to lack of sufficient goblins after they were mostly slaughtered during the raid on Sandpoint. He couldn't draw a map, though. “I'm a druid. Nettlewood is my home, not those dungeons.” He did draw pictures of the “angry woman” and her allies, though. He also explained the pit the heroes found; there was a monster living down there; the goblins would throw in sacrifices to quiet the monster; “long-shanks” when available, goblins from other tribes when not available.

After leaving, Xavier answered the question on everbody's minds. “Of course the cave is a trap. But it also has an element of the truth. Hopefully we'll know more, when we interrogate the others. Dropping by the cathedral, Father Zantus verified that the drawing of the “angry woman” was indeed that of Nualia Tobyn.

The other goblin tribes proved easier to scout out then those in Nettlewood. Without having access to the natural defenses of the Nettlewood, the other tribes had to resort to sentries of their own. All Xavier needed was one or two “normal” goblins (as opposed to more powerful ones, like Gogmurt) to enchant, so they'd ambush a pair of sentries, Xavier would do his thing, and everybody would move on to the next.

The exception to the rule was the last scouting attempt, in the Brinestump Marsh. Here, there were not only goblins, but also spiders. As they ventured deeper into the wetlands, the amount and density of webbing increased. Events came to a head when Xavier, in the process of “leap-frogging” Nae, started spellcasting. Nae moved up immediately, to see he had slept two goblins, who were in turn about to ambush a spider as big as a human! The goblins' ambush was blown, and the spider had turned to face towards the goblins, and thus also towards Xavier. Before Nae quite got there, however, Xavier stood up and walked out into the open, heading towards the goblins. The spider too, approached the goblins. Nae raised her bow, but Xavier was in the way of her shot. This may have been deliberate, because Xavier didn't attack the spider, but strangely enough, the spider didn't attack him!

The two seemed to “chat” for a few minutes, before the spider moved to one of the goblins, picked it up, and spun a web around its new source of food. Xavier cast a spell on the second one, grabbed the goblins' weapons, and returned to Nae. As soon as Xavier was hidden, the spider kicked the goblin, waking him up. The goblin jumped to his feet, saw what was happening to his friend, and, lacking any weapons, ran away. Having only tagged one, the group located a second sentry pair, and tagged both, before returning to town.

Xavier, on the way back to town, was all grins, and couldn't stop talking about his new friend.

That evening, a visitor showed up at their table (yes, the locals had decided that the table they had been using all this time for meals, was officially theirs). The noble they had saved from the goblin raid showed up to chat with the group. “I'm glad to see you. I wanted to thank you again, all of you, for your help in preventing me from being 'goblined'.” He introduced himself properly, as Aldern Foxglove. They talked a few minutes until he “let slip” that he was hoping to go on a boar hunt before returning to Magnimar, and he'd like company. In fact, he'd like company enough, to buy everybody horses.

That sort of bribery gets a noble a long way. In this case, it got the noble 5 heroes to go hunting with him. The noble also flirted with Idunnr – heavily – and Idunnr was rather receptive, which set Nae on end. She had been wondering what he really wanted; now she knew. When Idunnr got up to leave with Aldern, she almost said something, but couldn't open her mouth. Besides, what would she say, that she had a bad feeling about it? Nae would get laughed at. It was only after Xavier offered to share his bed with her that she snapped out of her funk. She managed to keep her rage down as she flatly told Xavier “no”; Idunnr shouldn't have gone off with with a manwhore, but Nae would be damned if she did the same. That Xavier actually shrugged off her denial only irritated her more. Nae would not be Xavier's fourth “notch on his belt.”

She went to her room – alone, for the first time in weeks – and actually cried herself to sleep.

## The Boar Hunt

Idunnr was still on the high from her newest sexual encounter. And now she was high from her horse. It was a stupid thought, but still made her giggle.

The first thing Aldern did after breakfast, was bring them to the stables, where everybody got to pick out their horses. One horse wouldn't accept anybody except Xavier, but fortunately Xavier liked her, so that one was his; Daviren, the stablemaster, seemed happy to be rid of that one. Everybody else got one too, including Nae, who was unsure about the beasts; evidently, horses did not exist in her land. Nae was still willing to give it a try, though, having learned her lesson about new things when her armor had saved her from serious injury.  
Something else was up with Nae, too, but she wasn't saying, and Idunnr and Aldern were hitting it off so well. If Nae needed something, then at some point she'd speak up.

The day passed mostly uneventfully. Aldern spent most of the day talking. Idunnr found Aldern to be a charming conversationalist, well-read and with a seemingly endless cache of stories about the high life in Magnimar. He was more interested in the Idunnr and her friends, though. Who were they? Where were they from? How long have they been fighting goblins? Do they have any harrowing tales of their adventures? The conversation stopped only when, in the late afternoon, they finally found a boar.

The group arrayed themselves out, with Nae, Xavier, and Idunnr in front, and Char, Morn, and Aldern behind them. Ranged weapons were used first (and Xavier seemed a little too happy with his bow), wounding the boar and causing it to charge mindlessly onto Nae's spear. From surprise, a second boar charged them from the side, but Morn greased the ground, causing it to miss everybody as it slid to a stop next to them. The second boar, its surprise ruined, was also easy pickings.

With the hunt concluded, they all returned to town. The boars were handed over to Ameiko for cooking by the innkeeper's staff; in return, dinner and drinks were free for all of them.

More stories were had as the inn's common room filled up, and the food was cooked and eaten in the celebratory atmosphere. Even Nae managed a smile; Idunnr was going to have to have a talk with her about whatever was wrong, after everything quieted down. Xavier even got up and started singing, as she rested her head against Aldern's shoulder; damn, but Xavier was good. Quite a few of the ladies seemed to agree with her, cheering him on. She was quite horny as well, but had a man right here who could handle that. Ameiko even joined Xavier on the stage; both performed well together – perhaps too well. It was obvious whose bed Xavier would be occupying tonight.

The sound of a chair scraping the floor brought her head around. Nae had gotten up, and was already halfway to the door, running. Idunnr tried to stand up, but encountered resistance in the name of Aldern. She apologized, and extricated herself from him, and chased after Nae. Morn stood and followed the ladies slowly. Yes, the town considered them all to be heroes, but there is no sense in taking chances.

Nae kept running until she was out of town, then out of sight of the town, before collapsing. Idunnr followed, finally catching up to her, then kneeling down to embrace her while she cried.

“Naediakalua, you tell me what's wrong," Idunnr ordered.

“You...you went off with that manwhore! And you were going to do it again! And I can't stand it anymore!” Nae's pitch rose throughout the statements until she was nearly screaming, but then she collapsed, crying again. “I...I...”

“Oh. You're jealous. Jealous of Aldern.”

Nae's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out, so Idunnr lowered her lips to Nae's. Nae didn't move, aside from gasping, when she realized what was about to happen.

The kiss was fantastic; Nae must have thought so as well, as she collapsed into Idunnr's arms. Still, Idunnr ended it after only a few seconds. “No need to be jealous.” Idunnr stated.

“But. But, Aldern.”

“That was just for fun. I could never live with him, anyway. Imagine me, in a big city, wife of a nobleman. Yeah, that's not happening.”

“Dual-spirited?”

“Huh?”

“You like both men and women?”

“I like people. Well, certain people more than others. People like you.” Idunnr smiled gently, wiping away Nae's tears.

Nae took a minute before she replied to that. “Idunnr?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Kiss me again?”

Idunnr was only too happy to comply.

Mornilithe arrived at that moment, staying far enough away to not be noticed, waited only a moment, and backed away to ensure the two were not disturbed, concentrating on the area around the two, rather than on them. He returned to his room in the early hours.

Monster in the Closet, and Grim News From Mosswood

Char was woken by the commotion. Typically a light sleeper, he was the first one down, and thus the first one the panicking woman ran for. She begged him to wake the others; her family was in danger from goblins! The others were already on their way down, though, except for Idunnr and Nae; they had disappeared sometime last night, but Xavier only smiled and nodded when he had been consulted. Xavier wasn't smiling now, but instead said there was no time to retrieve them.

The woman had a baby in her arms, and was accompanies by a small child. She showed Xavier the child's arms; they were covered with fresh goblin bites. The woman also said the goblins killed their dog, and that her husband was fighting them, and thus in danger. Xavier immediately had the woman lead the group to her home.

The house was disturbingly silent. Upon reaching the boy's bedroom, Char saw the husband, on his belly, as if he had crawled into the closet. Morn grabbed the man and pulled him back, but the instant Char saw the man's slit throat he knew goblins were still alive. An instant later a goblin shrieked in rage and jumped out of the hole to attack Morn. Char caught it with a Snapdragon Firework that blinded it sufficiently that it missed Morn. It hit the ground on its feet though, snarled, and tried again to kill Morn – only to stiffen up and fall over, dead. Char knew Xavier did it, but only because of the metallic humming noise that came from Xavier as the goblin died.

The woman screamed again, this time from seeing her dead husband. In addition to the slit throat, it appeared the goblin tried to chew on the man's face. Char found the hole leading under the house, approached it, and glanced at Xavier in confirmation. Xavier glanced around, said he didn't think anything else was down there, but to check it out anyway. Down Char went, but he only found a small nest for his troubles; the place where the goblin had been sleeping.

Sheriff Hemlock showed up as Char was emerging from the hole; late again, but at least he could help the woman and her children. The arms on the larger of the two children were healed; Xavier had obviously healed the wounds. The sheriff offered to take the family to the cathedral, where they could stay for a few days; the woman agreed.

The heroes went back to bed, but for Char at least, sleep wouldn't return. It was a grim reminder that although the goblins were stupid and insane, they were also dangerous and evil. But eventually morning came, and Xavier, Char, and Morn were joined by Idunnr and Nae for breakfast, but for once, the talk of the town isn't about the heroes and the events of last night. An elf by the name of Shalelu had came into town earlier that morning. She isn’t quite a bounty hunter, a survivalist, or a mercenary, but a mix of all three. The elven woman passes through town once or twice a season to buy supplies and never remains more than a few days, always staying at the same room at the Rusty Dragon free of charge. Near the end of each visit, she meets with Sheriff Hemlock and Mayor Deverin for a few hours at the garrison to give a report on the state of the hinterlands before she leaves town again, a pouch of gold at her side.   
Shalelu’s visit today, however, is unexpected – she last passed through town only a month ago and wasn’t expected until the last week of autumn. Upon arrival, she immediately went to the town hall, instead of sticking with her normal routine. The unusual meeting and Shalelu’s ragged look have combined to make an already jumpy populace suspect that the woman brings news of a new goblin threat. This fear is only confirmed when, as the heroes were wrapping up their breakfast, Sheriff Hemlock himself entered The Rusty Dragon, asking them to join the meeting at the town hall.

“Thank you for coming,” the mayor said when the heroes arrived at the mayor's office and were made comfortable. “We have news, and as a result, we could use your help. This is Shalelu Andosana, an unofficial member of Sandpoint’s town guard.” The introduction caused Shalelu to smirk. “Shalelu, this is Sandpoint's newest crop of heroes: Xavier, Idunnr, Nae, Morn, and Char.” That introduction caused Xavier to smirk.

“Shalelu has been a thorn in the side of the local goblin tribes for years, and that few in the region know more about them than her.” This statement from the sheriff caused Xavier to grin, in that way that Char has recently come to recognize as “Challenge Accepted!”, although the sheriff seemed blind to what he had just provoked. Instead, he went on to recap her report that Sandpoint hasn’t been the only place in the region that’s had goblin troubles. In short, there’s been an increase in goblin-related raids along the Lost Coast Road, particularly in the dale between Nettlewood and Mosswood. Only a day ago, a farm south of Mosswood was burnt to the ground by a group of goblins. Shalelu was thankfully nearby, and while the farm couldn’t be saved, she did rescue the family and drive off the goblins; the family is staying at a nearby farm for now, but the goblin problem is obviously not going away. At this point, Hemlock cedes the floor to Shalelu, asking her to tell the heroes what she told him.

“Belor’s told me of your work against the goblins – well done. I’ve dedicated the last several years of my life to keeping them from causing too much trouble around these parts, but they’re tenacious and fecund little runts. Like weeds that bite.“Anyway, there’s five major goblin tribes in the region, and, traditionally, they’re pretty good at keeping each other in line with intertribal squabbles and the like. Yet from what I’ve been able to piece together, members of all five tribes were involved in the raid on Sandpoint. A fair amount of the Mosswood tribe goblins I dealt with yesterday were already pretty beat up, and there was a lot of chatter about the ‘longshanks’ who killed so many of them. Now that I’ve met you, it seems obvious from their descriptions who they were talking about. seems like you’ve made an impression.

“ln any event, the fact that the five tribes are working together disturbs me. Goblin tribes don’t get along unless they’ve got something big planned, and big plans require big bosses. I’m afraid that someone’s moved in on the goblins and organized them. And judging by these recent raids, what they’re organizing seems like bad news for all of us.”

Belor agreed. Nodding seriously, he informed them of his plans. “I'm taking a few of my men south to Magnimar to see about securing additional soldiers to station at Sandpoint for a few weeks, at least until the extent of the goblin threat can be determined. While I'm out of town, I've asked Shalelu to sniff around Shank’s Wood, Devil’s Platter, and other places where goblins live to see if she can discover anything else about what’s going on. I would also like the lot of you to maintain a public presence in Sandpoint over the next few days. The locals seem to have taken to you, and seeing you around town will do a lot for keeping worries down over the next few days.”

“What's wrong?” Kendra Deverin interrupted, looking at Xavier. “You were grinning like mad at first; I was about to question what you found so funny, but now you've stopped grinning.”

“I was grinning because I seem to know even more than Shalelu does at this point. The information we've gathered tells me that heading to Magnimar now, and putting off a raid to end the threat, could be a colossal mistake.”

“There's no way you could know more than our local expert,” Belor Hemlock bristled on Shalelu's behalf, although Shalelu only seemed patiently curious instead of offended.

“On the local goblins in general, no, but what they've been up to recently, oh, yes.”

“You don't have any training, any authority, and you're all newcomers to this region! How dare you-”

“Sheriff,” interrupted the mayor. “You didn't talk to them like I asked you to?”

“I already told you they know nothing. I don't even like leaving them 'in charge' for a week or so, but at least when it comes to showing a pretty face, it'll calm the townsfolk.”

The mayor sighed and glanced at Xavier, who shrugged. The mayor continued. “I want to hear what you have to say. Do you still think Nualia is trying to destroy the town?”

“Pretty sure, yes.”

“Nualia Tobyn is dead, I tell you,” the sheriff interrupted.

“You mean this Nualia Tobyn?” Xavier asked, offering his drawing of her.

The sheriff's mouth opened and shut in surprise, before he collected himself and asked, “where did you get this?”

“The goblin we brought in drew it; this is the person who organized the raid. She's staying at Thistletop.”

“You didn't interrogate the goblins?” the mayor asked the sheriff.

“They'd just lie. There's no reason to trust them.”

“Except that this drawing, from a goblin, actually matches what Nualia Tobyn looked like, doesn't it? It appears in this case, this particular goblin told the truth.” Xavier responded.

“Nualia Tobyn is back,” the mayor agreed. “The drawing proves it. There are some differences; her scarring, for example, but it has been five years. It is too similar to what she looked like to simply ignore.” She then turned back to Xavier. “You think the town is under imminent danger?”

“If we wait for reinforcements, it could be too late.”

“You are overstating the risk,” the sheriff countered.

“I don't know the risk,” Xavier shot back. “So I must assume the worst, and prepare accordingly.” Char saw Shalelu nodding her head at that response.

“Even so, the job of evaluating such risks to this town is my job, not yours.” The sheriff then turned to the mayor. “Or, with respect, yours. Just like it is my job to evaluate what to do about it. So, I intend to go get reinforcements. Now, if you're going to protect the town while I'm gone, I have to deputize you, but I won't do so without a promise that you stay in town, and not rile up the goblins into another attack.”

“What about the people living outside town? Shalelu can only be in one place at a time.”

“I don't want you attacking the goblins!”

“Then we won't attack the goblins. We'll only defend, as best we can. And if the town burns, we will know who was at fault.”

Belor Hemlock paused. “I can live with that. Fine; you're deputized. Here.” He tossed a small bag at Xavier, and stalked out.

“Before you say anything,” Mayor Deverin said, “know that the town thinks of him as a hero, for his actions during The Late Unpleasantness. And he means well.” the last was added as an afterthought.

“You can take the Shoanti out of the wilds, but you can't take the wilds out of the Shoanti,” Xavier said, as if repeating a quote from somewhere. Everybody smirked at the line. Xavier opened up the bag; inside were five badges; Xavier handed them out. “By the way, the goblin said she had four allies, and made drawings. Do you recognize any of these?”

Shalelu immediately picked out one. “That's Bruthasmus, an infamous bugbear ranger who lives in northern Nettlewood and often visits the five tribes to trade things he’s stolen from caravans for alcohol, news, or magic arrows. He has a particular hatred of elves, and we've fought on several occasions.”

“Oh, that reminds me. How stupid of me to forget. There was a set of large, goblin-ish tracks around Father Tobyn's desecrated grave. I think they belong to a bugbear. Here's my drawing of it.”

“Yep, that's a bugbear print. Bruthasmus is the only bugbear around; I'd bet money he was in on it. This, plus the information you got from that goblin, pretty much points directly at Thistletop as the place we need to focus on, although we shouldn't ignore the other tribes, either. What do you think Nualia is doing?”

“She stole her father's corpse. The most common thing for evildoers to do with corpses is animate them somehow. The close relation to the corpse may provide a means of controlling it in spite of increased power, so I'm assuming a more powerful undead, similar to a lich.”

“You can't become a lich unless you try; it requires willing acts of evil. But some other form of undead may be possible,” Shalelu admitted. She returned to the pictures. “I've seen him around, too, although it was five years ago.”

“Hmm, so have I.” Kendra admitted. “Isn't that...I think that's Tsuto. Tsuto Kaijitsu.”

“He's the one that Lord Kaijitsu decked at his wife's funeral, isn't he?” Shalelu asked.

“Yes. Tsuto claimed Lonjiku pushed her off the cliff, but there was never any evidence. He confronted the elder at the funeral, and got smacked down for it.” Kendra turned to Xavier. “And the goblin drew this?”

“Yes. The goblin also claims that he and Nualia are lovers. Regardless, I'm thinking his bootprint fits in with the tracks around Father Tobyn's grave. Naulia may have sent Tsuto to do her dirty work for her.”

“Hmm. I'm classifying Tsuto's involvement. Nualia's too.” Kendra said. “I don't want them catching wind of our investigation. So we don't talk about it to others, for now. If you see either one, though...”

“We're part of the town guard, now. We'll do our job. What about Ameiko. She may not be directly involved to all this, but the fallout is still going to catch her up in it.” Xavier finished.

“Watch over her, I suppose, but don't interfere with anything.” Kendra said. “If Tsuto is around, we don't want to tip him off.”

“We've corroborated quite a bit of the information that goblin gave.” Shalelu added after a pause. “I'm a little worried that there are elements hidden in the information he gave, that will cause trouble.”

“Worried' is not the term I'm thinking of, but yes, I am aware of his probable duplicity. Until then, however, I did promise to feed him, and I suppose I should keep that promise.”

“You made a promise to a goblin?” Shalelu turned up her nose.

“I'm a 'carrot-and-stick' kind of guy, when it comes to extracting information. Goblins are always hungry; food seemed a good bargaining tool.” Shalelu frowned, but still nodded.

“I'd like to see this goblin for myself.”

“Sure. After that, if you want, you can help me interrogate the others.”

“You have more?” the mayor interrupted. “I was only aware of the one you brought in.”

“No, I've 'tagged' more. I have a summoning spell that draws from creatures of this plane, instead of an alternate plane. Except, I have to 'tag' the creature first, so my selection of creatures is limited, but can be situationally more useful.”

“And you're going to summon them, then interrogate them? The summoning requires the truth from them?” Morn asked, curious.

“No, but I am an empath; I can usually tell when someone is lying to me. Plus, there are ways to psychologically manipulate people; stupid goblins should be all the easier. It should be as simple as ordering them to write their name, then stopping them before they do, just to prove I have power over them. Summoned creatures must obey simple orders like that.”

“Do they remember anything after the spell ends?” Morn asked.

“Yes. The two sets of memories are merged when the spell ends. I'm told it feels like a sort of 'double life' and takes a little getting used to. Its great for training purposes, though. When you've been summoned, you can take risks you otherwise wouldn't due to injury or death.”

“I thought summoning spells only lasted a short time,” Idunnr commented.

“I have a cantrip-level summoning spell. I can summon any 'tagged' creature with it, but it has no combat effectiveness, and I have to maintain concentration sufficient to maintain the spell. On the other hand, as long as I maintain concentration, its no problem.”

“And if the creature is nearby? I'm pretty sure the laws of magic won't let you duplicate a person that easily.” Idunner continued.

“If the creature is nearby, or comes nearby while the spell is active, the original can try to resist the magic, or will fall unconscious until the spell ends.”

“There's no resistance to the summoning otherwise?”

“No, but any attempt at resistance to the tagging spell automatically succeeds. That's why they had to be unconscious first.”

“Hmm. From town, there should be no problem with the range.” Shalelu said. “But what if they die?”

“If they die, then I've summoned a corpse. Anyway, we've tagged multiple goblins from each tribe, just in case some do die. Would you care to join me for the interrogations?” Xavier asked Shalelu.

“I'd love to. Lets take care of the captive goblin first, though.”

“Please keep me informed. I know Belor thinks he has this all under control, but...” the mayor paused, looking for more polite words.

“Well-meaning, but incompetent.” Idunnr said, disgusted, and Nae nodded in agreement.

“Out of his league,” Morn added.

“Hardheaded, and unable to admit when he's wrong,” Char supplied helpfully.

“Isn't Hemlock a type of poison?” Shalelu asked, and everybody laughed.

“Okay, enough,” Kendra said, trying not to laugh. “I call this meeting adjourned. Please keep me appraised.”

“Well, everybody, it looks like we're stuck waiting on the goblins to attack us, for awhile. Aside from these interrogations that shouldn't take too long, I've only got one thing on my list; If I can see everybody at dinner, I'll take care of it then.”

Everybody started going about their separate ways. Char, not sure where to go first, lingered in place, and thus overheard a little more, as Shalelu and Xavier walked away.

“I think we'll be working rather closely, for the next few weeks.” Shalelu mentioned flirtatiously.

“I think I'd like that,” Xavier replied.

In another direction, Nae facepalmed, right at that moment. Char felt like facepalming, too; Xavier was quite the ladies' man. It was remarkable, though, how good Nae's hearing was.

## The Missing Bartender

“Alright,” Xavier began, “first we have some magic items now; stuff we looted off of Gogmurt. 6 potions in total: 2 Cure Light Wounds, 2 Speak With Animals, and 2 Tree Shape. Also, a wand of Produce Flame, a Cloak of Resistance, and a magic leather armor that's too small for any of us to use.”

“Those who can't heal should carry the healing potions,” Nae commented.

“The wand is druid-only,” Idunnr observed.

“The non-healing potions should be kept for group-use,” Morn stated.

“The cloak should go to the most vulnerable,” Xavier suggested, indicating Char.

“What should we do about the leather armor?” Char asked. “Sell it?” Everybody either shrugged, or nodded. “That will at least get us a little money. Money is good.”

Everybody seemed to be in agreement with this arrangement, so after distributing the loot, Xavier continued. “I guess this means we're officially a group, if we're keeping loot for group-use? I was considering forming an adventuring group anyway, and I've seen sufficient competence from each of you to warrant an invite, so I'm happy with this. On a slightly different subject, we've got no gold yet, but I do have another place where we can stay, and thus not have to pay nightly for our rooms.”

“We've already paid for our rooms tonight,” Char observed.

“I'm sure you'll want a little time to move in with anyway. So, tomorrow morning I'll show y'all around.”

“How did the interrogations go?” Morn asked.

“Well, not all goblins are the same, it appears. We actually tagged a literate goblin.” Xavier replied. “Only one, though. When told to 'write his name', he tried to act shocked and terrified, but not well. I called him on his literacy by remarking about how his name was legible, whereas the other goblins I've interrogated could only scribble something resembling writing. Turns out, he's not a sorcerer, but a wizard, and resents not being left alone by his own tribe.

“Anyway, all are agreed that the Thistletop Goblins were in charge of the raid, and in particular the 'longshanks' staying at Thistletop, and they bullied the other tribes into participating. All are rather devastated from their losses on the raid, especially the Birdcruncher Goblins of western Devil's Platter. As for the Thistletop Goblins, we've only Gogmurt to go on; it appears the goblins were depending solely on him for their defense. I say we rent a boat and go see if the cave really exists. Then, after Hemlock returns, we tag-and-release one of the goblin sentries that will be sure to replace Gogmurt, and see if we can learn any more that way.”

“Where's Shalelu?” Nae asked.

“Resting, before she heads back out of town,” Xavier replied.

Morn had noticed Xavier's proclivities, too; Xavier wasn't bothering to hide what he was doing. He hadn't overheard anything in particular between Xavier and Shalelu, but they did walk away together, and appeared rather friendly to each other. It seemed that Nae noticed as well, and was wondering about Shalelu's need for rest, just as Morn was.

“So, what now?” Idunnr asked. “We're stuck in town until Hemlock returns?”

“Not stuck,” Morn corrected, “but must remain close, and not go after the goblins. Which means no tag-and-release missions, but it may take some time for them to post sentries anyway.”

“We can still look for that cave.” Char commented. “After all, we will be avoiding actual contact.”

“A nighttime mission.” Nae stated. “Goblins have darkvision, which is better at short range, but limited to that short range. We,” Nae motioning to her and Xavier, “have nightvision, which isn't quite as good, but isn't limited to a short range either. As long as we stay sufficiently out of range we won't be seen.”

Xavier grinned at the suggestion, and Nae bristled. “And no, I'm not trying to get you alone.” she continued.

“I know, but it's still funny. That, plus you could kill me with your pinky.” Xavier replied.

“Just you keep that in mind.” Nae finished with a huff, and Morn hid a grin under his cloak.

Xavier and Nae returned from their expedition rather quickly. The cave was there; it didn't take long at all to find it. Even getting off the boat, Nae was obviously suspicious of Xavier; he claimed that he had been the perfect gentleman, and since Nae wasn't complaining of anything in particular, Morn believed him.

A couple of days passed without anything of note, finally. The building was large, with ample room. It needed refurbishing, but a sufficient number bedrooms were tidy enough to use. They would need to continue taking their meals out in town, but the town needed a decent way of approaching them anyway; mealtimes would be sufficient. When asked about it, Xavier said the town didn't have the funds to pay the group, so he was given real estate, and it fell to him to make something of it. The townhouse was easy to make use of; if need be, the other buildings could be sold off, but that took time.

Things seemed to be calming down, with their watch over Ameiko passing uneventfully, but it was only a brief respite. At the start of one morning meal, a timid elderly halfling woman asked to speak with the group in private. She was one of the maids that worked at the Rusty Dragon.

“I'm worried Ameiko has gone missing. I woke earlier this morning to find that Ameiko hadn’t started breakfast for the first time I could remember. Worried, I knocked on Ameiko’s door but didn’t get a response. Against my better judgment, I entered Ameiko’s room to find it empty and the bed un-slept in. Worse, I found a crumpled piece of parchment near the bed.” She handed the note over to Xavier, but it was in a strange script nobody could make out. “She had been teaching me the language over the last few years. I translated it on the opposite side.”

Xavier turned the note over and read it aloud. “Hello, sis!

“I hope this letter finds you well, and with some free time on your hands, because we’ve got something of a problem. It’s to do with father. Seems that he might have had something to do with Sandpoint’s recent troubles with the goblins, and I didn’t want to bring the matter to the authorities because we both know he’d just weasel his way out of it. You’ve got some pull here in town, though. If you can meet me at the Glassworks at midnight tonight, maybe we can figure out how to make sure he faces the punishment he deserves. Knock twice and then three times more and then once more at the delivery entrance and I’ll let you in.

“In any case, I don’t have to impress upon you the delicate nature of this request. If news got out, you know these local rubes would assume that you and I were in on the whole thing too, don’t you? They’ve got no honor at all around these parts. I still don’t understand how you can stand to stay here.

“Anyway, don’t tell anyone about this. There are other complications as well, ones I’d rather talk to you in person about tonight. Don’t be late!”

The halfling explained. “Tsuto was something of a scandal when he was born 21 years ago, since he’s a half-elf. Neither of Ameiko’s parents are elves. It was obvious that old Lonjiku wasn’t the boy’s father, and his rage at the discovery of his wife’s indiscretion was the talk of the town for months. Lonjiku’s wife Atsuii never revealed who the father was, and it’s a testament to Lonjiku’s stubbornness that they remained married. Tsuto was handed over to the Turandarok Academy to be raised outside of the Kaijitsu family, ignored by his father and forbidden visits from his mother. His older sister Ameiko visited him in secret a few times a month to keep him company, bring him some food, and promise him that someday things would get all sorted out. That all changed six years ago, when they had a terrible argument in which Tsuto struck Ameiko. I don't know what the argument was about, but whatever it was is what sent Ameiko away from Sandpoint for a year, during which time she made a living as an adventurer. She returned to Sandpoint five years ago to attend her mother’s funeral. Tsuto was quite public in his opinions that his father had pushed Atsuii off the cliff to her death, and during the funeral there was a confrontation. Lonjiku nearly broke Tsuto’s jaw with his cane, after which Tsuto cursed him and left Sandpoint. Ameiko’s tried to reestablish contact with him ever since, but was never able to track him down.

Morn tried to quell the sinking feeling in his stomach. “I'm worried that Tsuto’s up to no good. Since Sheriff Hemlock’s out of town, you're the only ones I can turn to. Please, can you go over to the Glassworks and find out what happened?”

Xavier looked around. “I guess breakfast can wait. Everybody, grab your gear.”


	4. Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group enters the Sandpoint Glassworks in search of the missing Ameiko Kaijitsu.

# Glass

The building was curiously silent, but the furnace chimney still plumed with smoke. A quick investigation of the building perimeter revealed that curtains have been drawn over the windows and all the doors are locked. Xavier climbed up onto the roof, and peeked through the skylights before climbing back down.

Meanwhile, several gawkers had gathered around, some of which were insisting that the heroes go to Kaijitsu manor and get Lord Kaijitsu, rather than simply break in; Idunnr had to point out that they were part of the town guard now, and were acting under that authority. Xavier caught the tail end of the conversation when he returned. “Goblins are in the furnace room. I think I saw Lord Kaijitsu, but its too late for him. There's no sign of Ameiko, or Tsuto, or Nualia, but not all the rooms have skylights. You,” Xavier pointed out to the lead gawker, “go inform the mayor. She will need to establish a perimeter here. Ameiko may be inside, and in danger, so we are not going to wait.”

Xavier did not wait to see if the gawker in question obeyed. Instead, he went to the front door and had it picked open in about a minute. Xavier wasted no time scouting that first room; it had a skylight, and Xavier must have seen there were no guards there. He led the group deeper into the glassworks, quickly but silently checking out room after room, setting a pattern of going right whenever a choice presented itself, and ensuring that the only area the goblins were in, was the furnace area. Several rooms were sacked. The servants' quarters was bloody, but there were no bodies. The pantry had a broken dogslicer in it, next to a mostly-demolished crate. They located a safe in one room, that was already opened and emptied of contents. The group found stairs leading down. Xavier paused, wanting to deal with the goblins first, but declared they could wait; Ameiko mattered more. Nobody disagreed.

Downstairs, Xavier continued the “right-hand-rule” as they scoured the area. They found Ameiko in the second storage room. She was conscious but heavily bound and badly wounded. Xavier immediately went to her and, cautioning her to silence, cut her bonds and started healing her. Ameiko, once freed, could only sob into Xavier's shoulder, but they didn't have time either.  
“The goblins are still there,” Idunnr reminded Xavier, “and we could be discovered at any minute.”

“Quite right,” Xavier replied.

“It's my brother.” Ameiko revealed, trying to collect herself. “He and several other mercenaries were being led by some woman named Nualia. She’s got big plans for Sandpoint’s future. He warned me that I didn’t want to be in town when those plans came through, and offered me a chance to join his group at Thistletop. I...I reacted badly, and he unleashed his goblins on me. They overwhelmed me and put me here. I need to warn father of this.” she started trying to get up.

“Ameiko,” Xavier began, and it was the tone of his voice that stopped her cold.

She stared at him for a second. “Its too late, isn't it? He's already killed father.”

“I'm sorry.” Xavier offered, and Ameiko collapsed back into Xavier's arms. “We still need to deal with the goblins, and Tsuto as well, if he's still around. We can take you out of here first, but we haven't much time.”

“No. I need to be here.”

“You can't help in your condition.”

“I need to see this.”

“...very well...”

Xavier turned his attention back to everybody else. “We finish up down here, then head back up and wipe out the goblins.” Heads nodded, and thus the group continued on.

The next door was just past a brick wall that had been torn down. Tsuto was sleeping, but Xavier cast a sleep spell on him just to be safe, then confiscated his stuff, bound him up and bagged him.

“You're not going to kill him?” Ameiko asked.

“Dead men tell no tales,” Xavier replied.

The only thing left to discover downstairs was a smuggler's tunnel leading off into the darkness. Xavier elected to come back to it; the goblins were now more of a priority.

Returning to the furnace, Xavier came up with a plan. He asked for a volunteer to be illusioned into the form of Tsuto. The volunteer would close in with the goblins, and once in position, would strike. The rest of the group would be waiting at the doorway, and would hold their actions until just after the volunteer sprung the trap. Morn practically jumped at this chance.

Idunnr gasped when she saw the room. The servants were all here, all in various stages of dismemberment, as eight goblins poured glass onto the severed body parts in an attempt to emulate Tsuto's masterpiece. That would be his father’s body, propped up in a chair in the central alcove and encased in thick runny sheets of hardened glass.

Mornilithe started when he had his first glimpse of the body of glass. From the dreams.

The goblins paused and took one look at “Tsuto”, before returning to their grizzly hobby. “Tsuto”, once he reached the other side of the chamber, cast a spell, laying out grease from the furnace, towards one cluster of three goblins. The grease easily caught fire, and quickly spread to the goblins. Xavier slept three more before stepping in and to the side, and Nae and Idunnr's two cats charged in, killing one and almost killing the second. Then, a magical firework from Char hit that lone, last goblin, dropping him, too.

Ameiko was famous for having been an adventurer, but Idunnr could tell she was still rather surprised at how efficiently the goblins had been dealt with. That surprise turned to horror as she got her first look at what had been done to her father. She ran up to him, and would have collapsed onto the floor had Xavier not followed her, and caught her. He held her while she cried, but looked at each of his comrades in turn, and when he looked at Idunnr, she could hear his voice in her head. Please go see if the mayor is outside with more guards. If she is, then bring them in.

Idunnr started out, noticing that Nae had moved to a position where she could easily watch the furnace room (and had the large bag with the unconscious Tsuto still inside), and Morn and Char were heading downstairs (perhaps to watch the smuggler's entrance?). Kendra was indeed outside, with 4 guards, and was looking more than a little annoyed.

“Before you say anything,” Idunnr declared as she walked up to Kendra, “you should come inside with a pair of those guards, and see this for yourself. The other two should remain here and keep the crowd back.”

Kendra looked like she wanted to argue, but seemed to think better of it. She grabbed two guards and followed Idunnr back inside. Her attitude changed completely when she saw the carnage in the furnace area. The she spotted Xavier, Ameiko, and Lord Kaijitsu, and paled. Idunnr escorted her and the guards over there.

“Ameiko,” Kendra began, “I'm so sorry.” But Ameiko wasn't paying attention.

“Ameiko,” Xavier kissed Ameiko on the forhead. “Would you like me to help?” Ameiko focused on Xavier long enough to nod her head, before curling up again in mourning.

Xavier looked up, but didn't move from his position, where he was holding Amaiko in his lap. “That sack of shit over there,” nodding to the sack in front of Nae, “contains Tsuto Kaijitsu. He's unconscious, but alive and bound. He should be put in jail immediately.” Kendra shooed one of her guards off to do just that. This room needs cleaned up; that fire over there is probably hot enough to consume the goblins, so at least that's convenient. Then, we'll need to do something with... this...” he said, glancing at the encased body, “as well as the other poor souls who lost their lives here. I'll need to go back into the office here, and see which workers were off-site during all this, and fill them in. Finally, I'll need authority to enter Kaijitsu manor, and look for the Lord's will. Oh, we'll need a couple more guards down in the basement. If you want to see why, the stairs down are that way. I have a couple of my people down there, guarding it already, but we'll all need to rest up before continuing on.”

Kendra motioned the guard to start cleaning up. “I'll take care of Kaijitsu manor myself; you have enough on your hands already,” she replied. “I would like to see what's downstairs, though.”

Xavier looked at Idunnr. "That filing room we found should have the employment register. We'll need it to locate any survivors." And so Xavier had Idunnr doing his legwork. Ameiko wouldn't move until four guards gathered together to remove Lord Kaijitsu's body, glass and all; it was only after that, that Xavier was able to carry Ameiko to her bed in The Rusty Dragon.


	5. Wrath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Catacombs of Wrath have been opened - its ancient horrors await!

# Wrath

Tsuto’s journal (one of the items looted off his unconscious body) was a small, leather-bound booklet containing two dozen parchment pages, most of which Tsuto filled with maps of Sandpoint or erotic drawings of Nualia. The maps each depicted different attack plans. The first set showed the attack plans for a group of thirty goblins—one of these battle maps was circled, and Morn recognized it as the attack the goblins made on Sandpoint at the start of the adventure. Interesting that the map called for 30 goblins, but everybody was estimating up to a hundred had actually attacked. That was a testament to the goblins' effectiveness, despite their stupidity.

After the map was a note. “The raid went about as planned. Few Thistletop goblins perished, and we were able to secure Tobyn’s casket with ease while the rubes were distracted by the rest. I can’t wait until the real raid. This town deserves a burning, that’s for sure.”

Of more pressing concern was the next several pages, which illustrated an assault on Sandpoint by a force of what appears to be two hundred goblins. None of these are circled, and while many are scratched out as if they’ve been rejected, the implications were ominous nonetheless. There was a note here, too. “Ripnugget seems to favor the overwhelming land approach, but I don’t think it’s the best plan. We should get the quasit’s aid. Send her freaks up from below via the smuggling tunnel in my father’s Glassworks, and then invade from the river and from the Glassworks in smaller but more focused strikes. The rest except Bruthazmus agree, and I’m pretty sure the bugbear’s just being contrary to annoy me. My love’s too distracted with the lower chambers to make a decision. Says that once Malfeshnekor’s released and under her command, we won’t need to worry about being subtle. I hope she’s right.”

The drawings of Nualia showed a great deal of chest scarring. They all showed silver hair, violet eyes, and a shapely figure that screamed Aasimar. A few also showed a demonic left hand, but the last one depicted her with demonic hands, bat wings, horns, a forked tail, and fangs. It seemed the woman wanted to become a monster. Why that was so, was beyond Morn; Morn would actually prefer the opposite, for himself. Being monstrous was not something to be desired. Anyway, there was a note just before that last picture. “My love seems bent on going through with it – nothing I can say convinces her of her beauty. She remains obsessed with removing what she calls her ‘celestial taint’ and replacing it with her Mother’s grace. Burning her father’s remains at the Thistletop shrine seems to have started the transformation, but I can’t say her new hand is pleasing to me. Hopefully when she offers Sandpoint to Lamashtu’s fires, her new body won’t be as hideous. Maybe I’ll luck out. Succubi are demons too, aren’t they?” All in all, there was enough in the journal for Tsuto to hang.

Xavier concocted a plan regarding Tsuto, for interrogating him. Xavier would pretend to be one of Nualia's contacts, gained during her stay in Magnimar (they didn't know if Nualia had actually been to Magnimar, but it was still an excellent guess), and would find a way to spring him from jail, but he'd want to know what was really going on, as he wanted “in” on whatever it was. It was rather flimsy, but Xavier maintained that it would work, especially with his charm.

A couple of hours later, Xavier had proven successful; Tsuto was a fount of information. Nualia planned to offer Sandpoint as a burning sacrifice to Lamashtu in return for a transformation from the angelic to demonic, a ritual she’s already begun by burning Father Tobyn’s remains. There is a monster, trapped underneath Thistletop named “Malfeshnekor,” and releasing and recruiting it will make their coming assault on Sandpoint a guaranteed success. The Catacombs of Wrath were discovered when a Kaijitsu's smugglers tunnel was being dug. It was a shrine to the demon goddess of monsters, Llamashtu, and home to a quasit named Erilium, who in turn taught Nualia about Llamashtu. Erilium was also in command of a large number of “freaks” that Erilium named “sinspawn”, that came from Erilium's “Runewell of Wrath”.

“Quasit. What's a quasit?” Xavier had asked, but Morn was able to explain about quasits, and demons in general. Xavier also opined that Malfeshnekor was also a demon, being locked up underneath Thistletop for who-knows-how-long, Morn tended to agree. Of course, everybody already knew about Ripnugget and Bruthasmus.

“Demons.” Idunnr sighed. “We'll need cold iron.” Morn nodded in agreement.

“We should also probably rest up, and clear out the catacombs tomorrow morning,” Char added.

“I need some time, anyway,” Xavier said, “because I've got to meet with the glassworks survivors. The apprentices all lived on-site, and were all killed, but one master and three journeymen were off-duty at the time. They're all that's left; we've got to work out a plan for the glassworks, going forward.”

“Ameiko doesn't want anything to do with it?” Morn asked.

“Nope. She hasn't decided to sell it off, but in the meantime, it's not fair to the survivors to be left without direction. She rather feels the same about her manor, but at least the pair of servants there know what to do. Now, for the loot, such as it is.”

Nae got the potion of Cure Light Wounds so that all three non-healers had one. The +1 masterwork composite shortbow would be sold; the group only used longbows. Char got the Ring of Protection +1 due to his being the most “squishy”. Xavier took the masterwork thieves' tools and masterwork flute, being the only one who could make use of them. The money raised so far should also allow for some masterwork item purchases.

So off they went. Their stop at Savah's Armory was greeted by an instantaneous offer of 20% off anything in stock for the heroes of Sandpoint, an offer they readily accepted. Afterward, everybody went their own way, meeting again in the morning.

Reflecting on all that had occurred, and all he had been shown by Sarenrae, Morn was first to breakfast, as usual, but only if one counted only the heroes. Several townies were there first, and they would be joined by others. Knowledge of The Catacombs of Wrath had spread through town, and all were anxious to watch their heroes descend into hell on their behalf. Morn bristled slightly under their gaze, but just the same, the town was treating them well. The 20% off discount yesterday had saved Xavier a small fortune, since he was buying equipment for everybody.

After everybody showed up, breakfast talk consisted of various procedures to use. Every dungeon passage was to be marked in chalk. Xavier had a set of markings devised, from early on before Morn had met him, that functioned as a set of notes that would pertain to the passage in question. Each note was also to be done in a different color of chalk, for reasons of “security”, Xavier said, but which sounded more like “paranoia”. Passages and doors that were temporarily skipped were also to have the nearby floor dusted with flour; the flour would reveal any recent footprints. The floor could then be brushed clean, and flour re-applied; any activity would then disturb the flour, and give the group notice when they returned. The group would be divided into two sections; those who could see well in the dark would be in the first section (Nae, Morn, Xavier), those who couldn't would be in the second (Idunnr and Char) (Idunnr's cats would of course stay with Idunnr). The second group would have bullseye lanterns at light sources; this was the bait. The first group would be sneaking around, and ambush anybody headed to the bait; this was the trap. When on the move, one member of each group would hold a string, and keep it taut. Tugging on the string meant “stop”; conversely, if the string went loose and stayed that way, it meant “come running”. While this seemed counter-intuitive, its easier to release the string if you're in danger than it is to mess with it. And, as usual, the right-hand-rule would be in effect.

Finally, with breakfast done, the group headed down the smugglers tunnel. It wound on a lazy northeasterly route for just over 1,750 feet before reaching a dead end. There, Nae found a secret door that opened into a 30-foot-diameter cave on the side of the cliff overlooking the Varisian Bay. The cave mouth sloped down to a narrow beach; the cave also held a crude collection of goblin beds and remnants of goblin meals strewn about. Re-entering the tunnel, Nae hammered in a few spikes around the door, to keep it from opening again.

Along the tunnel’s southern half, two side tunnels branched off. One of these led east to a collapse after 400 feet (which put it somewhat close to the Turandarok River), but the one to the west seems to have once been bricked over at the point where it diverged from the main tunnel. This westerly passageway wound for 50 feet before turning north for another 100 feet, where there was a branch to the right along the tunnel that led to a cave. Morn noticed something alive in the cave, so he pulled Xavier and Nae back north along the tunnel, and steadily drew the “bait” closer with the string. This in turn drew the light closer, and the beast within reacted, preparing to ambush the bait. This, however, pulled the creature into the position Morn wanted. Both he and Nae surprised and speared it (there not being room for Xavier to help), dropping it before it could react.

When the “bait” arrived, everybody got a good look at the creature. A horribly deformed humanoid, it was hairless and emaciated. Its unnaturally long arms ended in three-fingered talons, and its legs bent like those of a dog. A writhing network of bulging veins formed dark blue patterns across its pallid skin. But worst of all is its face – its nose was little more than a pair of slits, and its eyes were bulging and red. The lower jaw split in half at the chin into two wretched arms that ended in tiny three-fingered hands to either side an open gullet with a lolling tongue.

Xavier had been watching the other way, for not 10 feet further north, the tunnel split again, but nothing was forthcoming. He too took a look at the corpse, before muttering “So this is a Sinspawn.”  
They were just about to set off again, when the sinspawn got back up. It clawed and bit at Char, staggering him. Nae speared the creature again, then did so an extra time, through its head, to make sure it stayed down. As Xavier healed Char, Morn noted out loud, “So they have fast healing.”

Following the “right-hand-rule”, they entered a storeroom off the branching tunnel; the storeroom itself only had broken rubble anymore, but there was a door leading to a winding hall. This too branched, before widening into what appeared to have once been a small shrine, for on the far side, steps led up to a platform of gray stone. Sitting atop the platform was an ancient altar, little more than a jagged block of black marble with a shallow concavity on top of it. That basin was filled with what appeared to be filthy water.

Char cast a spell, and declared the water was tinged with magic. Morn figured it was evil, and related to Llamashtu, as this place was supposed to be a shrine to her, and said so. Xavier nodded, declared the altar could be dealt with later, and moved on to the double doors that led deeper into the catacombs.

This huge room beyond the doors, looked like nothing more than an immense underground cathedral. stone doors stand to either side of the main entrance, but beyond this, the walls were carved with strange, spiky runes. In the center of the room was a large pool, a ring of polished human skulls balanced on stone spikes arranged in a circle around the deeper midsection. At the far end of the room, a pair of stone stairways led up to a pulpit on which sat a second pool, this one triangular and filled with churning, bubbling water that looks almost like translucent lava. Yet while wisps of what looked like heat and steam rise from the strange orange liquid, the room itself is deathly cold.

The quasit was there, in all her tiny glory, as well as 6 sinspawn. She flew into a rage at seeing the group enter. “How dare you intrude upon the Mother's sanctum!”, she shrieked, before slashing her own wrist.

The quasit's blood dripped into the triangular pool, and another sinspawn climbed out of it, the pool's glow diminishing noticeably. She commanded them all to charge, and spat some phlegm at Idunnr, hitting and sickening her.

Xavier shouted, “Spears!” and kicked the door closed behind him. Actually, he hadn't bought everybody spears, but he had bought everybody some sort of reach weapon that could be set against charges. The group had just enough time to set their weapons, and the attackers reached them. Nae managed to kill two of them on her own, and everybody else killed ganged up to kill two more, before the final three were within reach of their claws and teeth. Char hurt them all three with burning hands (preferring spells to spears) before stepping back for protection, and (being in the back, having closed the doors) Xavier slept one before it could strike, but the other two ganged up on Morn. Morn staggered under the blows but kept his feet. Idunnr's cats jumped forward and savaged one, while Nae simply took a step back and skewered the last standing sinspawn.

With an “eep!”, the quasit dodged a sling bullet from Idunnr before flying into the air, then vanishing into that air. Morn used his healing potion while the cats ended the sleeping sinspawn, and the others ensured the sinspawn were actually dead.

After, the group arrayed itself around Xavier, prepared to attack the flying demon if it showed itself again. Idunnr had her sling, Nae still had her spear, and Morn and Char has their magic (and spears). With a grin, Xavier led the group over to the triangular pool.

Morn looked at the pool and felt a sinking in his stomach. This is the reason for the dreams. These were all supposed to be destroyed long ago!! he thought.

“Oh, what's this? This must be a runewell!” Xavier giggled, as he took out his dagger and cut his hand, allowing his blood to fall into it. A sinspawn crawled out (and the runewell's glow dimmed further), which Nae (spear) and Char (Snapdragon Fireworks) immediately cut down. “I wonder how many charges it has left?”

“NO!” cried the quasit as it finished summoning a giant ant. It threw its dagger at Xavier, which just bounced off of Xavier's skin, and the ant charged. Nae, however, still had reach on it, and between her and the cats, who were waiting for it to close, it never got a chance to attack before it was slain.

With a whimper, the quasit dodged another sling bullet, took some damage from one of Morn's magic missiles, and vanished again, but this time Xavier was ready. Just as the tiny creature vanished, it took a hit to its head, from a small sack of flour. The flour burst, coating the invisible quasit. Nae dropped her spear, quick-drew her bolas, and neatly wrapped its wings up, causing it to fall to the floor. Morn charged it with his cold-iron spear, not stopping until he had pushed it to the wall, with it impaled on the spear. It still struggled, but Morn kept it in place, and within a few seconds, other cold-iron spear attacks finished it off, with an extra couple of hits for good measure.

Xavier was still giggling as he looted the quasit, then had everybody re-form around the runewell. He dropped more blood into the runewell, twice more. Each time the sinspawn was killed as it emerged, before it could become a threat. After the second time, there was no more magic in the runewell.

“You know,” Morn said after this, “in the adventure books the Pathfinder Society publishes, the big fight is always at the end of the dungeon?” Xavier giggled as he healed the self-inflicted cuts on his hand. “And I don't think you're supposed to taunt your enemies like that.”

“Oh, but that's just fun. You'd take all the joy out of life, wouldn't you?” Xavier countered.

After a short break, the group resumed their trek through the catacombs. The next chamber contained a red marble statue of a strikingly beautiful but, at the same time, monstrously enraged human woman, her stony expression twisted in fury. The woman wears flowing robes, and her long hair is held back from her face by an intricate headdress of hooks and blades. in her left hand she carries a large book, the face of which is inscribed with a seven-pointed star. Her right hand holds a glittering metal and ivory ranseur. Xavier made a drawing of the statue, then managed to retrieve the ranseur from it without damaging it or the statue.

The next chamber was on the other side of a door. Xavier opened the door and stepped through; then a bat-like creature swooped in and shrieked! Morn tensed up; all his muscles were locked into place! The same seemed to happen to Xavier in front of him, but one of the cats pounced forward at the thing, so not everybody was paralyzed by the noise.

It was a blackened, bat-winged fiend's head! Tentacles dangled from chin and scalp, and its fanged mouth hung agape. Flying, it dodged the cat's pounce, which landed in a pool of water. Idunnr came forward, lunging at it, but missed as well. Nae, too, missed.

It swooped in on Xavier, ignoring the others, thus provoking attacks from them. Nae hit, wounding it, and the cat bit it and wouldn't let go. Over the next few seconds, the cat played with its new toy, until it was in pieces. When Xavier was able to function again, he started giggling, and took a few minutes to stop, by which time everybody had fought off the paralysis.

After, Morn looked around. In this chamber, water rippled quietly in a circular stone pool lined with skulls. Smears of what looked like blood marred the pool’s rim in places. Char, using detect magic, declared it was conjuration magic, but as nobody had detect evil, Xavier elected to move on, this time remarking that they'd need to make a second trip, with the sage and priest in attendance, to figure the rest of it out. Morn was slightly concerned for the cat, who had landed in the pool, but it appeared to be okay so far.

The next chamber was a flight of spiral stairs, winding up around a circular pillar, ending at a cave-in. No other passages were available short of the statue, so the group started up again after a bit of backtracking. The next chamber was large, and obviously once was a prison, as testified by the nearly two dozen cells that lined the room’s perimeter. The entrance to the room began with a rickety wooden platform that overlooked the room; two flights of stairs descended to the prison floor ten feet below. A five-foot-wide wooden walkway ran from the northern edge of the platform to a passageway to the east. Idunnr and Nae descended to scour the room, and were attacked by sinspawn who had hidden underneath the platform; both were injured but not killed. Char and Morn shot the one on Nae with their typical spells, and Xavier leapt off the platform, skewering it with his warpike, while Idunner's cats both pounced on the second sinspawn; both went down quickly.

After making sure the sinspawn were truly dead, they continued the search, and, finding nothing, they healed up and moved on.

This next room contained several ancient relics of what appeared to be torture implements, although their function and style seemed strange and archaic. In one corner sat a spherical cage with spikes protruding inward from its iron bars. In another stood what appeared to be a star-shaped wooden frame, its surface studded with hooks. And in the center of the room was a long table covered with leather straps and a number of cranks that seemed designed to rotate and swivel. None had any value anymore, so the group moved on. 

The crumbling remnants of several chairs and a long table cluttered the floor of the next room. To the south stood three stone doors, each bearing a strange symbol that resembles a seven-pointed star. 

“This star symbol is a common theme down here,” Idunnr noted.

This room once served as a study, but time had taken its toll here. A search of the rubble uncovered the fragments of countless books and scrolls with bits of spiky writing in a strange language all over them; these were gently set aside for later copying onto material that hadn't decayed. They would probably be useless, but might have some academic value to them. During this process, Nae uncovered a single intact scroll under a broken chair. Xavier glanced at it, noting it was a scroll of flaming sphere, that would last for half a minute instead of the minimum 18 seconds.

The three doors to the south were once prison cells. Within each was a single skeleton of a badly deformed humanoid; one had three arms, another had an enormous misshapen skull, and the third had a ribcage that went all the way down to its pelvis – a pelvis with stunted legbones strewn below its strangely flat girth.

The next chamber was strangely cold, and arched to a vaulted height of twenty feet. The floor contained eleven wooden lids strewn haphazardly over eleven five-foot-wide pits in the ground. From the darkness within these pits echoed up strange shuffling sounds and, every so often, a low moan. The group took a look into the pits with the bullseye lanterns, and multiple people all called out, “zombies”.

At the same time, a burst of foul-smelling and acidic blood spewed out at the group from the entrance, catching everybody by surprise. At the entrance was a singular goblin, but one as fully big as an orc! Horrifically mutated, it sported an extra, smaller pair of arms, jutting from its shoulders. It wielded a longsword in one hand a handaxe in a second hand, and a dagger in one of the small hands. It charged at Idunnr, hitting her with the handaxe.

Very quickly, the lone goblin was surrounded. Xavier tripped it with his polearm, the humans stabbed it, and the cats pounced on it. Morn looked back at the entrance, and up, noticing a small stone extruded from the wall, where the creature had probably sat. “Clever hiding place,” he said as he pointed it out. Xavier looked up at the spot, nodded, and continued healing the wounded.

After everybody was healthy again, they stabbed at the zombies with their reach weapons, putting them out of their misery, and then searched the room. They had to put the goblin back down again when it got up, but ensured it was dead the second time. The only items of value were the goblin's weapons.

Moving on, they found a spiral staircase leading down, but it was blocked, just like the previous staircase. The last room of the catacombs consisted of a fifteen-foot-diameter sphere. Several objects floated in the room, spinning lazily in space – a ragged book, a scroll, a bottle of wine, a dead raven surrounded by a halo of floating and writhing maggots, and a twisted iron wand with a forked tip. Yet perhaps the most unnerving aspect of the room were the walls, for they were plated in sheets of strange red metal that rippled every once in a while with silent black electricity that seemed to coalesce into strange runes or even words far too often for the effect to be chance.

“It's magic, alright,” Char confirmed, “Transmutation to be precise. A levitation effect, obviously.”

“Those runes,” Xavier said, “Anger. Wrath. Revenge. This magic is corrupted. Again, we'll need Father Zantus to consecrate the area.”

“The magic is confined to these plates. If its purged from that taint, the plates could be taken down and set up elsewhere. For now,” Char cast another spell and, one by one, the items floated over to him. He took each item in turn, placing it into the loot bag.

“Are we done?” Idunnr asked Xavier, looking at the map.

“It appears so.”


	6. Jewels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xavier is tasked with tracking down a Jewelry Thief.

# Jewels

Xavier and Company brought both the sage and the priest down with him on the return trip. The understanding was that the sage could study whatever he wanted, as long as he wanted, but when it came time to leave, if it needed purifying or destroyed (or whatever), the priest would see to it, regardless of any archaeological value.

First up was the statue. Brodert Quink, the sage, saw it, and immediately pronounced it to be of Runelord Alaznist, runelord of wrath. He also noted it was lacking the characteristic weapon that came with it; Xavier smirked at that.

Next up was the levitation chamber. Brodert translated the runes as they appeared, like Xavier had done earlier. Father Zantus Abstalar cast a spell, and declared the place “partially haunted, like a ghost that can't fully affect the world.”

“What spell was that?” Xavier asked. “I didn't see quite how you did that.”

“I'm not sure a bard could learn it.”

“Try me.”

“Hmm. Alright, but not now. That was Detect Evil, by the way. And this,” Zantus cast another spell, and the runes went away, “is Hallow.“

Xavier left Char to disassemble the metal plates, as he could see how it was erected, using Detect Magic. Nae stayed behind to assist. The next stop was the ancient study. Xavier had swapped around his spell loadout, and now had a copying cantrip studied, that he applied liberally between the decaying scraps and a blank book. Brodert was only too happy to take the book; he would have study material for months now, if not years.

The first pool, just short of the up-staircase, was next. Zantus cast Detect Evil, and declared it wasn't tainted. Xavier had a use for this one, after the stonework that contained the pool was extracted and cleaned up a bit, but it could wait since it wasn't tainted, and Char was busy.

The shrine was next. Zantus declared the altar, and especially the liquid in it, unholy. Xavier had brought a caged rat with him, though, for an experiment, and so stopped Zantus from doing anything immediately. “I think I know what will happen, but we really need to know for sure, in case we encounter this sort of thing again,” he explained, before placing the rat cage in the water. After only about a minute, all present got to watch in horror as the rat mutated, growing until it filled the cage. Xavier had purchased a rat cage large enough to contain it, even after its expected growth, but the rat started using some sort of acid spit to eat through the bars. Xavier saw this, sighed, and killed it with a thought. Well, Xavier wounded it with a thought. It took a second thought to actually kill it; that critter was significantly tougher than it should have been. He handed it to Brodert for later dissection, and Zantus Consecrated the unholy shrine, cleansing it from Llamashtu's influence.

Next was the cathedral itself. The triangular pool still showed no activity, and did not show up as evil either. The circular pool showed up as evil, but barely magical; this, according to Zantus, simply created unholy water. One Consecrate later, it too was destroyed. Meanwhile, Brodert was busily copying down the runes arrayed across the walls.

Morn escorted the two out, while Xavier returned to the first pool. An identify later, and he knew it was for cleansing; also, the pool would remain always-full. He worked at extracting the surrounding stonework, while Idunnr helped carry the load. He wasn't sure what Char wanted with the levitation effect, but the cleansing effect here would be great in a bathtub; he told Idunnr about installing a large bathroom in the townhouse using this, with some sort of heating system underneath, and she happily helped out as best she could.

It turned out Char wanted to float in his room. He turned one of the plates into a door that, when opened, temporarily stopped the effect; behind the door was space for shelving. Otherwise, you would simply float while in the room, which was, Xavier had to admit, relaxing. It took Char and Nae all next day to install it.

Xavier and Idunnr took an equal amount of time installing the hot tub. He put it on the third floor, underneath a huge skylight and windows; nobody could see inside from the town as the town was on the other side of the townhouse, but the view was still incredible. Copper pipes were placed down first, to carry hot water from being heated in the fireplace, then the tub was installed, then the rest of the plumbing. The hot water aspect wouldn't work without the waterwheel Xavier had planned, to pump water up to the attic (where it could then descend through the house, and be used), but the basics were in place, and magic cantrips could be used to heat the water for now. After it was installed, Idunnr shoved Xavier out, and dragged Nae in, to “try it out”.

But not all was fated to remain quiet. In the early morning hours, Xavier was woken by someone beating on the townhouse door. Well, Xavier and Lanalee were. Lanalee said she needed to get back anyway, and left him with a kiss. She hadn't intended to sleep over so late. So, with a smile on his face, Xavier headed downstairs.

It was the Jeweler's wife. “Please, you've got to help me. Someone broke in and stole everything!”

Xavier invited her in to wait while he put on more than a bathrobe. The others had also come down to see what the problem was, and also rushed to get dressed. When everybody was ready, the woman led them to the jeweler's shop. Xavier made sure to step in only along the side of the doorway, and cautioned his team to do the same. Inside the shop, the vault was wide open, and empty. Xavier made a couple of comments about the competence of the guards, but also asked who had sealed the door the previous night, and got the expected answer – nobody had.

Xavier asked the typical questions, then went to the front – and only – door. Right outside, he sprinkled flour on the ground, then used Prestidigitation to create a light breeze. The flour moved, except in spots where people had stepped. The six guards had been confined to the shop since last night, so their tracks would be too old to show up. Along the side were his footprints, and those of his team, as expected. The wife's footprints out, and in, still showed. The husband's foorprints were nonexistent; he hadn't left the shop this morning. But there was one more set of prints – a simple, flat sole corresponding to disposable padded slippers, designed to quickly and completely burn in a fire (the stealth characteristics being where the term “padfoot” originated). It appeared the tracks went both to and from a nearby alley.

Following the tracks, he found a set of junk, ready for Gorvi's boys to pick up when they got to this part of town. He climbed up on the roof of the jewelry, using the junk for height, and tried the flour trick again. This gave him a fresh set of prints for the group to follow, leading to another alleyway, then to the street, where the tracks were lost in the hustle and bustle of Sandpoint. The thief had got away.

However, the roof creaked loudly with all their weight, and nobody had complained about unexplained noises. So, he led the group back to the first alley, and started checking the trash there. Buried in the trash was a bag, sealed tight – and sturdy enough that it might not burst when thrown over Junker's Edge. When it was opened, jewels were found inside. Xavier concluded to all around that the thief was going to let Gorvi's boys throw it over Junker's Edge, then pick it up later.

“So the thief got away, possibly with some of the valuables that he carried with him, but the bulk of it is here.”

The wife stared at it a moment, before jumping to conclusions. “You did this!” She shouted at her husband. “You've been setting this day up all along, and only thanks to these heroes did you get caught!” The husband stared at her in shock. Well, Xavier had to admit that the husband was leaving the safe open at night, and that the information had made it to the town's rumor mill, so in some ways it was the husband's fault. Perhaps he would learn from his mistake now? The wife's reaction was going too far, but it wasn't Xavier's place to deal with it.

“I'm going back now; I'm hungry. My condolences on any loss.”

Xavier went about his business, with nobody the wiser that he was now almost 1000 gold richer. Yes, it cost the jeweler, but the rumor mill had it that the Sczarni were setting up a heist there, and the jeweler would have lost everything. Now, the jeweler lost only a small fraction of his net worth, the Sczarni lost out on their heist, and nobody had any clue who interfered.


	7. Thistletop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time to confront Nualia has arrived.

# Thistletop

“Hannah,” Nae mentioned.

“The herbalist? No,” Idunnr countered in disbelief, but Nae nodded sagely.

“Also her,” Nae pointed across the White Deer Inn, where they were enjoying lunch together. Idunnr's eyes followed in that direction, coming to a rest on a fairly cute waitress.

Nae stared for a moment before returning to her dinner.

“And her,” Nae pointed at another table, in the other direction. Idunnr looked that way; Sheriff Hemlock was having a rather intimate meal with a rather beautiful woman. Idunnr quickly looked back at Nae in shock. “And she's been busy, too.” Nae continued sagely. “But as I understand it, she runs the … brothel? Where you pay for sex?”

“How many has Xavier...”

“In total? Almost twenty, I think. I've not yet matched scents to faces or names for many of them, but still, I can tell when a one of these women has been around Xavier. Also, it usually involves the hot tub.”

“But...but...” The knowledge of what Xavier had been doing, as well as in the hot tub that she and Nae had shared, was overwhelming. She finally settled on a question. “How can they all be okay with this?”

Nae shrugged. “Denial? Or they don't care? Or maybe its that thing he did to us when he was singing, and they can't resist?”

“But we resisted it. I don't think it was magic.”

“Maybe its innate to him, then, and its up to the woman to try to resist.”

“So he has sex with them, then moves on.”

“Oh, no, they always come back for more.”

“What?!”

“I've smelled 3 or 4 women on Xavier, every day, ever since the catacombs. There have been repeats.”

“I don't know what to think about this.”

“Well, I have no desire to be another notch on his belt.”

“Nor I, but still. We hang out with him, and he's never come on to us.”

“Except that night.”

“That was him performing for everybody though.”

“Meh.”

Idunnr had to think for a few minutes. “We're not helping him, are we? By doing what we're doing.”

“I don't see how. If we left, he'd still be a womanizer.”

“Do they think that we...and Xavier???”

“Heh. Probably.”

“Oh, that's so mortifying...”

“He's also the best leader I've ever seen.” Nae sounded rather sad at that admission, but the question of why were we sticking around? did need to be answered.

“Same. We might be dead now, if it weren't for him.”

“We've certainly come close a few times. He even gave me a new weapon to replace my spear.”

“One of his warpikes?”

“Yep. Its still a reach weapon, and you can brace for charges with it, but you can also trip and disarm more easily with it, too. Xavier said it was his first 'masterwork version', and that I'd make better use of it than he could. The ability to swap out weapon heads, and add and remove pole segments, won't hurt either. It means I can carry more tools, for less weight.”

“What about that strange bow of his? The one with three strings?”

“He says he's still having problems with it.”

“Oh. Well, okay, then. What do you think of his plan for tomorrow?” Idunnr asked.

“Insane.”

“You think it won't work?”

“I don't know. But we're bringing a freaking spider along for this. It's nuts.”

“Even the animals love him. His horse won't be touched by anybody else. My cats constantly beg him for pets. I feel 'out-druid-ed'.”

“Don't. They're your cats, and their love of Xavier doesn't impact their love for you.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” Idunnr ate some more, before speaking again. “Something else Xavier asked me to do.” Nae sat patiently, listening. “A few days ago, he pulled a knife and put it on a table in front of us. He asked me to slit my palm, and promised to heal it. I did, and he kept his promise, and then even did some cleaning cantrip to the knife. Then, he asked me to slit his palm. That first time? I didn't hurt him. I had to try again, harder, just to cut his skin. When he healed himself, he gave me a second knife to try, and asked me to slit his palm, the way I tried at first. I did, and it worked. The difference was in the knives; the second was cold iron. He claimed he didn't even know about this until he slit his own hand with his cold iron dagger, summoning a sinspawn, and gouged his hand rather deeply by applying unnecessary force.”

“I've seen similar. That quasit's dagger bounced off of him, and before that, he was rather rough with a thistle door in the Nettlewood tunnels; the thistles should have drawn blood but they didn't.”

“I've asked around. There are two groups of creatures that have damage resistance, that cold iron bypasses. Fae, and outsiders.”

“If he's Fae, that would certainly explain why women flock to him.”

“Yes, it would.”

“And animals.”

“Yes. It would. It would also explain why he's able to keep so many women...satisfied.”

“So, he's Fae. He looks human, though. So, half-fae? Is that a thing?”

“I don't see why it couldn't be. You have half-dragons, half-angels, and half-demons. Why not a half-fae?”

“I suppose.”

The conversation returned to Thistletop. The group was going to rent a boat, and climb the side of the cliff to that cave, all at night, to limit the goblin's ability to see them coming. They'd sneak as best they could into the depths of Thistletop, then sneak out, perhaps without the goblins above being any the wiser. At least until something went wrong; if it did, they could try setting fire to the fort above, and stay in the cave while it burned. Let the goblins be a burnt offering to their own goddess, instead of Sandpoint. There was some poetic justice to that plan.

Xavier had already left to go retrieve his spider friend. “Lotslegs”, the local goblins called it, and it seemed to like the moniker. So now that's what Xavier called it. At least it made some casual sense. They were going to climb a cliff-side, after all.

After lunch, the pair retired to their room. Girlish giggling came from the bath; Xavier was at it again. Idunnr looked at Nae, who didn't say anything until their door was closed. “Three of them. I don't know who they are, but I recognize them from earlier. Again, this isn't their first time with him.”

“Three.” Idunnr collapsed on their bed in defeat.

“I can't believe you helped him install that thing,” Nae said, referring to the hot tub.

“He didn't say anything about this. But whatever happens in there, the tub cleans, at least.”

“It can't clean my memories of this.”

“True,” Idunnr admitted. “Does this mean you don't want to get up early and soak for awhile?”

Nae paused, obviously torn between using the hot tub, and not. Idunnr grinned at Nae, who in turn chose to jump her lover in response. The plan had been to take a nap before they set out, but maybe they didn't need as much rest as they had planned for.

After nightfall (yes, they got up early and took their turn in the hot tub) and a quick meal, the group set out. The moon wasn't out yet, and the stars were obscured by cloud cover – perfect for a night raid. Xavier had paid for a local fisherman to take them out, and to also pick them up when Xavier called for him via summoning. The cave they would enter Thistletop through was sixty feet above the waterline, and twenty feet below the upper surface of Thistletop. The group would have to tie together two lengths of knotted rope, for the full ascent.

Xavier and the spider set out first. Xavier used his climbing gear to make the climb, the rope dangling from his belt; he climbed next to the spider, who left a trail of webbing, just in case Xavier slipped, and needed to stop a fall. The precaution wasn't required, however; Xavier made it all the way up, and a minute later, jerked on the rope – the signal to begin climbing.

Nae was first, followed by Morn, then Char. Idunnr had to stay below, to tie her cats to the end of the rope; Nae would free them once they were pulled up to the top. There was some sort of delay up top before the first cat was hoisted up; it tried to climb on its own, but the rope proved to be invaluable as it couldn't make the 60-ft climb without it. After the second cat was hoisted, Idunnr made the climb as well. Xavier was resting against the side of the cliff, looking rather tired. A pair of bluish tentacles stretched to him from a squidlike creature, also bluish, but with more tentacles and several red eyes. Nae was half-covered in whatever passed for the creature's blood. From the looks of things, it had been attached to the ceiling of the cave, where it attacked Xavier; Nae had speared it, causing it to fall, dead, onto its current position.

“Well, that could have gone better,” Xavier admitted. The cats had gathered around him for comfort after their cruel mistress had been so mean to them. Idunnr could almost see reproachful expressions on their faces for tying them up like so. “At least it died quietly.” Morn pulled up the rope, the signal to the fisherman to return to town. Xavier stood up and performed some healing on himself, but still looked a little weak.

In the monster's lair, they found some magic hide armor, and a masterwork shortbow, but too small to be of use to the group. They also found a connecting room, full of worthless goblin junk. They opened a rickety wooden door, and emerged into a hallway, that ended at a T-intersection and a large pair of stone doors, their faces carved with images of horrific, deformed monsters clawing their way out of pregnant women of all races. It took little imagination to connect the pictures to Llamashtu, given everybody's previous experiences.

Xavier paused, looking down both hallways, and the wooden doors that they shortly ended in. “We have this 'right-hand-rule', but Father Tobyn's remains will probably be through those stone doors.” Upon hearing no objections, Xavier opened the doors.

Stone fonts containing frothy dark water sat to either side of the entrance, and twin banks of stone pillars ran the length of the long chamber. At the far end, shallow stairs rose to a platform about two feet off the ground. The walls surrounding this platform were lit by hanging braziers that emitted glowing red smoke, giving the place an unnerving crimson lighting that throws the bas-relief carvings of countless monsters feasting on fleeing humans into lurid display. A black marble altar stone, its surface heaped with ashes and bone fragments, squatted before a ten-foot-tall statue. The sculpture depicted a very pregnant but otherwise shapely naked woman who wielded a kukri in each taloned hand and has a long reptilian tail, bird-like taloned feet, and the snarling head of a three-eyed jackal with a forked tongue. Its left kukri flickered with fiery orange light while the right one glowed with a cold blue radiance.

The group walked to the alter. Idunnr noted the door off to the left, for later exploration, but the alter was more important. Smears of ash and bits of bone lay on it; a body had been recently burned here. Xavier brushed it all into a small bag. Just then, the room was filled by howling. Idunnr looked around; the howling came from near the entrance, but off to each side, and near the relatively high ceiling. She spotted a hairless, emaciated canine, near the ceiling, partially hidden by one of the columns; it had obviously been staying hidden behind it, watching what the group was doing, and the second was probably over on the other side, fully hidden behind its column. She took a step towards a nearby column, to use it as cover, and started casting a summoning spell. Nae moved to the other side, and must have spotted one, for she quickdrew her bow and fired off a pair of arrows in that direction. Xavier, meanwhile, had moved towards Idunnr, his bow out and aimed in that direction, but not shooting yet, probably due to the cover. Morn, Char, Lotslegs, and the two cats were all panicked from the noise, all running out of the room.

The canines stopped howling. Xavier shot an arrow from his bow, which attracted its attention away from Idunnr. However, Idunnr got a better look at the one closing in on Nae. It was hairless and emaciated, and ran in mid-air as if there was a surface underneath it. It charged at Nae, who waited until the very last second to drop the bow and whip her warpike forward. It impaled itself on the pike, then fell down as if the “ground” beneath its feet had given way, where it remained motionless.

Xavier was having a harder time with his and even called out, “cold iron isn't working”, but Idunnr completed her summoning spell, and an eagle popped into existence, right on top of the canine. It attacked, but its claws couldn't penetrate the canine's hide. Idunnr drew a silvered dagger and attacked it, gouging it deeply and drawing its attention. "Silver does!" she called back as the creature returned her attack. It bit her hard, knocking her off-balance, so that she fell down. Xavier too, drew a silver dagger and struck, but missed. Nae, however, didn't. She charged it with her warpike, nearly killing it despite its tough hide. It attempted to withdraw, but Nae was still able to strike it once last time due to her extra reach, killing it.

The trio ran out of the chapel, and found Morn, who had recovered from the howling. “The rest of them are at the cave entrance,” he said, just as a squad of goblins showed itself, charging through a door, straight at them. Morn greased the floor, stopping the charge, and Idunnr used a charge from her wand of create fire to finish them off. A magic missile caught Idunnr from behind; she saw a wand sticking out of a gap in the door. Nae charged to the door, spearing through it; the feminine cry of pain told Idunnr that Nae had found her mark.

Nae pulled her warpike back, and the door came with it, rendering it useless until it could be dealt with. At the same time, this widened Idunnr's view enough to see the fallen woman and a male human, equipped with banded mail armor, a heavy steel shield, and a bastard sword. He stared at the woman's body next to him, then looked back on Nae with a dark expression. He advanced towards Nae, stopping only when Xavier called his name.

“Orik?” Xavier asked.

Orik's brow furrowed as he considered Xavier. “Xavier? What are you doing here?”

“Defending Sandpoint. You?”

“Filling a contract. Since you killed her, I think I may continue that.” Orik said, furious.

“She did attack first. And she might not be dead yet. Stand down, and I'll see if I can save her.”

Orik thought about it a moment and stood aside. Xavier immediately started healing her; the healing took, which told Idunnr that she hadn't been outright killed by the strike. Xavier only used a cure minor wounds spell, however, and as such, the woman didn't wake up.

Xavier paused for effect, just as Nae freed her warpike from the remains of the door, so that Orik would see that, too. “She's stable now. You now have to choose whether this contract of yours is worth it. Join us, and we'll keep her alive.”

“Traitor!” screamed a voice from within the chapel; someone had obviously used that side door. Idunnr looked into the chapel from her position, and saw a bugbear. He resembled a twisted shadow puppet’s silhouette, a wild thing of flared black and brown fur whose pelt jutted out from its body at freakish angles. His ears were large and floppy, draping shoulder-length, adding to the creature’s unnatural shape. His eyes were too big for its head – tremendous milk-white ovals loomed on either side of the thing’s wheezy pig-like nose. His panting mouth was filled with bristly needle-teeth, spiderwebbed in disgusting strands of yellowish saliva, all vibrating to the tune of his wheezing breath. He wore studded leather, and held a heavy flail. He charged at Morn, as he had a better angle on Morn than anybody else.

Morn was ready with his warpike, but it did little damage as the creature charged in, swinging the flail. Morn staggered under the hit; he probably couldn't take a similar hard strike, but given the confines of the hall, had nowhere to withdraw to. However, Idunnr backed up towards the cave, and Nae stepped up, hitting the creature just as hard. A snapdragon firework shot towards the bugbear from behind Idunnr, dodging everybody until it finally impacted the creature; Char had obviously recovered. Then Xavier acted. He simply called out, “Bruthasmus – Die!” and with a metallic hum, the bugbear stiffened up and keeled over. Morn stepped aside as Nae pierced the dead bugbear's skull with her spear. Morn nodded approvingly. They had learned early not trust apparent death.

Orik hadn't acted through the fight, but only watched instead. Wide eyed at seeing the results, he said “My word, not to attack you, until we've had a chance to talk.”

More goblins rounded the corner of the chapel, but Morn greased that area, and Char threw another snapdragon firework at it, lighting that area up, killing some goblins and stopping any others. Meanwhile the first greasefire burnt itself out. Xavier took up point and moved forward in that direction. The only two things of note in the following chamber were the several doors (that were burning), and the staircase going up. Peeking up the staircase into the fort above, Xavier had to dodge several arrows. Xavier grabbed char, cast sleep into the area just above, and then told the boy, “light it up.”

With a grin, Char cast burning hands, his arc of flame traveling up into the fort above. Soon, shrieks of panic were coming from the fort, and the roar of an uncontrolled fire began to become audible. This was followed by another canine howl, from behind them. Oric ran up the stairs (dropping his girlfriend), stopping at the fire itself, unable to enter the fort above due to it being fully ablaze. The cats scattered again, as did Morn and Nae (who dropped their weapons), but not Char, nor Lotslegs. The canine in question bounded around the corner, from the hallway the group had come from, and went straight for Char. Also running around the corner, was a woman everybody knew from the drawings. Nualia was here, and she was not happy.

Char and Lotslegs paired up on the dog, while Idunnr and Xavier paired up on Nualia. Lotslegs spit a web at it, entangling it. This also made it crash to the floor for some reason. Char then attacked with his longspear, wounding but not killing it. Lotslegs and Char both took turns attacking until the dog, which never managed to tear free of the web, died.

Nualia, for her part, looked down at the body of Orik's girlfriend, and started casting a spell. Xavier chose that moment to trip her, disrupting the spell, and Idunnr took the opportunity to start another summons. Xavier attacked her, hitting hard, but she cast while prone, shattering Xavier's weapon. Idunnr completed her spell, summoning a riding dog (which bit Nualia), and starting another summons. Xavier pulled his axe-hammer off the side of his backpack, and when Nualia cast another spell, swung it down on her, hurting her and disrupting the spell; Idunnr summoned another dog to attack Nualia, before drawing her scimitar and also attacking.

It was obvious Nualia had several defensive spells up; she was difficult to hit, and difficult to damage. She gave up on offensive spells, though, and started attacking Xavier, who would respond by fighting defensively. Lotslegs and Char joined in; Lotslegs tried to poison her, while Char hit her with snapdragon fireworks twice before creating flares to blind her. Eventually, though, the damage accumulated on her, and then Nualia was no more.

The others returned shortly after. There was a breeze, now, flowing up the stairs into the fire above; that breeze probably came from the cave, providing airflow for that fire. Orik came back down, too; his girlfriend was still alive despite being dropped. With the danger passed, people started talking.

“How do you know this guy, Xavier?” Morn was first.

“We have a small amount of history together, in Riddleport. I wouldn't say we were friends, but we weren't enemies, either.”

“Are you sure we can trust him?” Idunnr asked.

“As long as his girlfriend is okay, he won't cross us. Nae, please search her. She attacked us, after being found with the goblins; all she owns is ours now, including her life, which we will spare, for now at least.” Xavier said with a warning glance at Orik. “Orik Vancaskerkin, I assume that” - Xavier nodded at Nualia's body - “was the person paying you?” Orik nodded. “I don't think she's going to be paying you any more. Meanwhile, we've found you here, among the monsters that attacked Sandpoint.”

“I didn't help them attack; I was hired as Nualia's bodyguard.” Orik responded. “I kinda liked that town anyway. I traveled through there after leaving Riddleport; they were friendly and charming.”

“I'm going to take your weapons, Orik. After this is done, I'll let you go, with those weapons, but we have no time to decide whether we can trust you now.” Orik did not stop Xavier from disarming him.

“And Lyrie?”

“She remains tied up and unconscious for now. Your sole job will be to carry her around with us. Idunnr will be behind you; if she stirs, she will club her with this sap,” Xavier tossed his sap to Idunnr, “and I'll make sure she remains stable after being knocked unconscious again.” Orik frowned at that, but said nothing. “If you notice she is starting to come to, you must say something to us. However, if you do that, I'll let you walk away with her after we leave.”

“That's probably the best I can hope for,” Orik said in agreement.

“So. What got you out of Riddleport? I never thought you'd leave.”

“I could have said the same of you.”

“I got run out of town.”

“I warned you that your proclivities would get you in trouble.” Xavier shrugged – it appeared he didn't think this was news to his friends – and Orik continued. “ I got scammed, and after I got justice, I found out the scammer had a brother, Clegg Zincher.” Xavier flinched. “You've heard of him, I see. Well, I figured I was better off alive outside Riddleport, than dead inside Riddleport. I ran into Nualia later, who hired me as a bodyguard. By the way, there was a half-elf, Nualia's lover. What happened to him?

“The town guard caught him with some goblins; it did not end well for him.” Xavier half-lied.

“I see. Well, I know Nualia didn't allow goblins down below, on the next level. She was looking for something; I don't know what. Everybody that would have been allowed down there, is accounted for now, but that doesn't mean there aren't dangers that I don't know about.”

“Okay. We finish up searching this level, then move on down.” Everybody nodded. “Nae, you're on guard; everybody else, search bodies while I supply healing, then we'll move on.”

Dozens of ratty cushions, lumpy pillows, and rumpled dogskin furs lay heaped in the south half of the next chamber, which smells of a nauseating mixture of vinegar and rotten flowers. The stink in the air is, horrifyingly enough, perfume worn by the four hideous goblin women who are found here. They exhibited both hatred and fear of the group in equal measure, but knew better than to attack. Nae suggested putting them into some prison cells she found when she was running in panic, and so they were locked up. There were a small number of living quarters, a goblin nursery (thankfully, empty), a war room (with plans for the final destruction of Sandpoint, all laid out), a research room with several books, all in ancient Thassilon (and also Lyrie's cat familiar, who has been hanging out here – until it took one look at Xavier, and started following the group around), and an art gallery.

The gallery was interesting. The lower four feet of the walls in this otherwise empty room were covered with crude rawings in mud, blood, and paint. Most of the drawings show goblins engaged in some sort of violence against humans, horses, or dogs. One picture on the north wall is at least three times the size and complexity of the other scrawlings. This image shows Thistletop from the side, the goblin stockade perched atop it like a crown. A cave has been drawn into the center of the image, and looming inside is what appears to be an immense, muscular goblin with snake-like eyes and a dogslicer in each taloned hand. if the scale compared to the rest of the drawing is to be believed, this goblin must be at least thirty feet tall. Orik volunteered that the goblins believed their god was trapped beneath Thistletop, and that is what they imagine their god to look like.

Orik also pointed out the secret door in the research room, that led to stairs, headed down. The stonework on the new level was different, much older, and sloped slightly to the west. The air quality and temperature were surprisingly good given how old the place was. A stone door hung slightly ajar, a hooded lantern resting on the floor, supplying light. A display hall was next, again with hooded lanters on the floor providing light, and with damaged statues of some man holding a glaive. The passage leading from the display hall was trapped, according to Orik, and was proven truthful upon testing, but the trap was easily bypassed too. The next room had a functional water fountain, and doubled as another research room; Orik said this was where Nualia did most of her research (and indeed there were a great many books laying about).

Mornilithe began seeing more and more that matched the dreams he had been having.

The group spent a few hours between the two research rooms, catching up on Nualia's progress. She was indeed trying to release Malfeshnekor, a demon of some sort, who had been trapped underneath Thistletop for thousands of years. This corresponded to Xavier's research on demons, from the week that Sheriff Hemlock made them stay in town (how Xavier had time to do research, on top of running around with every pretty face in town, Idunnr had no idea). Xavier said the architecture itself would not keep the demon contained, but rather it was some sort of magic, similar to how magic summoning circles kept demons contained.

For the rest of the level, the group had to bring their own light, which was not a problem. The southern wing of the next chamber (more of an L-shaped hallway) ended at a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of two skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrowed down to frame a circular carving of what seemed to be an immense stack of gold coins that rose from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins were carved with tiny, spiky runes – Thassalonian script. Through the doors to the south, the group encountered three shadows that floated out of their sarcophagi, but returned to their rest when the group hastily retreated.

After discussion, Xavier came up with a plan. Morn could empower weapons, so they temporarily became magic. Morn would do that to his and Nae's bows. Xavier would step into the room, drawing the shadows, Morn and Nae would take shots, and Xavier would step back out. If the shadows ever chose to leave their room, Char had the wand of magic missiles taken from Lyrie, Idunnr could cast shillelagh, and Xavier had the magic longsword taken from the mutated goblin in the catacombs.

The group worked the plan until Morn couldn't empower the weapons anymore; two of the shadows had been slain, and the third wounded, but it wasn't quite enough. So Char started shooting from the wand while Xavier continued to act as bait; 4 charges later, the last shadow was slain.

The group investigated the room. Four pillars support its domed ceiling. The sarcophagi were each contained inside an alcove along the walls, and a statue of a stern man wielding a glaive and holding a book stands at the far end of the chamber. The statue resembled the ones at the entry hall, but was intact; Xavier made a drawing of it. Nae, meanwhile, discovered a secret door. The door led to two halls, each with staircases descending down to the water level, and each leading to the same room, but from two angles. The sound of sloshing water filled the room, which has nearly collapsed entirely into a large tide pool. What few walls do remain intact here bore detailed and impressive carvings of incredible treasuries filled to overflowing with coins, gems, jewelry, and other items of value. To the east, the walls depicted a carving of a towering mountain, its peak carved in the shape of a stern face just above a great palace. Below, the side of the mountain’s valley cradled an immense city of spires. In the pool, the remains of what must have once been an incredible treasury lay in the sloshing waters. Shattered urns, crumbled stone chests, rusted bits of once beautiful armor and weapons, and other long-ruined treasures from an ancient past lay below. Most impressive of them all was a large, coral-encrusted helmet sized for a giant; the helm measured nearly five feet across, appeared to be made of gold, and its full-face guard bore an expression of twisted rage and fangs. 

Xavier considered the treasure in the water. “Trap?” He asked the others.

Orik shrugged his shoulders. “Nualia never mentioned anything like this; I doubt she ever found it.”

“Probably still trapped in some way, though,” Morn agreed with Xavier.

“It appears we may have already sprung it,” Nae observed, looking at the helmet as it headed in Xavier's direction. Idunnr cast virtue on Xavier, who had drawn his sword and was waiting for the helmet to slide all the way to him; in fact, everybody was on guard and waiting to strike. The helmet went up to Xavier, then rose up to reveal a pair of immense claws and spindly legs. Xavier struck first, catching it in the eye with his sword, but it struck back, grabbing him with one claw, and squeezing enough that Xavier lost consciousness; this threw the helmet off, revealing a giant hermit crab! Everybody attacked it, but before they could kill it, it did the same to Idunnr. She managed to keep consciousness despite the damage taken, but then Nae managed to spear it through its head, and it stopped moving.

Nae used her potion of cure light wounds on Xavier, which brought him back to consciousness. He and Idunnr rested, while the treasury was looted. Xavier managed to get him and Idunnr healed back up, as usual, through repeated applications of cure minor wounds, and then he made copies of the pictures on the walls in his journal.

The group bagged up the loot, turned the helmet over so it was upside-down, and tossed the bags into the helmet. They'd drag the helmet back to the L-shaped hallway first before taking a closer look at the column of gold coins; there was ample space on the other side of the column for several rooms.

Xavier started studying the column in detail, trying to make out clues as to how it opened. Nae, meanwhile, noticed two slots, hidden in the walls on each side of the column. Idunnr looked at what Nae had discovered; the slots were each just large enough to accept a coin. Given the column was gold, Idunnr had an idea. She gave Nae a coin, and sent her to put it into the opposite slot. At the same time, Idunnr put a coin into “her” slot. The pillar noisily ground into the floor, right in front of Xavier, who looked up and saw the grins on the ladies' faces. “Hmm. Good work,” he admitted.

The chamber on the other side of the column had three double-doors leading out of it, north, east, and south. The doors to the south were made of stone but bore no handles. An indented outline of a seven-pointed star, its shape covered by hollows and slits, graced the spot where handles should be. No amount of pushing would open it, there were no hinges on their side to mess with, and there was no gap wide enough to pry it open, so they moved on.

The stone doors to the east opened up easily, revealing a room that contained three low tables, their tops covered with a strange and chilling selection of tools, saws, long bladed knives, and objects whose purpose is not readily apparent. A strange collection of bones lay near the southern table—too many to be one skeleton, but too few to be two. The surgical tools were exquisitely made – and thus, valuable – but there was one tool that, upon close examination, wasn't a tool at all. It appeared to be a silver and gold seven-pointed star, one surface studded with nodules and blades, and the other featuring a thin curved handle. Xavier scooped it up and said, “key”.

“Lets do that other room first,” Morn suggested. “Save the obvious one for last.” The others agreed, and Xavier didn't argue.

In fact, Xavier had another suggestion. “Perhaps we should come back here after checking out the northern room, and rest up first. If the thing was listening, he might have heard the column of gold, but by taking our time, we regain surprise.” Everybody was okay with that.

The northern room was rather barren, but contained an upraised dais on which sat a marble throne. To either side stood statues of a man clutching a book and a glaive, the same man depicted in other statues. A ghostly figure seems to be seated in the throne, an image of the same man who appears in the statues. He seems to be addressing an audience as he moves his hands about, fingers decorated with hooked rings, but the words issuing form his phantom mouth are difficult to make out and in a strange language. Xavier translated. “…is upon us, but I command you remain. Witness my power, how Alaznist’s petty wrath is but a flash compared to my strength. Take my final work to your graves, and let its memory be the last thing you… Hmm, that's it. Its replaying those words over and over.”  
Idunnr opined, “This was one of Runelord Alaznists rivals. Another Runelord perhaps?”

Then it was the rest break. Lyrie was knocked back into unconsciousness whenever she woke, but kept alive and stable nonetheless. Orik stuck to his bargain and didn't try anything stupid. 

The next morning, they quietly went over the plan. No entering the room; he can't get out. Lotslegs would web anybody trying to go into the room, for their own good. The door can be closed to stop combat. Char would try fire; if it didn't work (probably not), he'd move to the wand of magic missiles. Xavier had studied energy bolt, not something he preferred to use but it would work for this situation if his bow failed. Idunnr would use magic stone on her cold iron sling bullets. Nae would use her new bow – the mighty +4 masterwork composite longbow, looted from Bruthasmus, along with cold iron arrows; the bow would be magically empowered by Morn, who would magic missile the demon first, then empower and use his own bow.

And so the group arrayed themselves at the door; Morn and Nae on the back rank, Char and Idunnr in the middle rank, kneeling and against the walls, Xavier on the front rank in the middle, with Lotslegs on the ceiling. The cats would remain around the corner, watching Orik and his girlfriend. Xavier put the key into its slot, turned it, then pulled on it, and the doors swung open.

The room beyond was lit by a ten-foot-wide pit of flickering fire that filled the room with a strange humid heat and the smell of burning hair. In the northern corners of the room, wooden risers each held several dozen golden candles that burned without melting, while to the south the wall bore an immense carving of a seven-pointed star.

Standing in front of the door was Malfeshnekor, looking rather surprised that the door was opened. The snarling, canine beast walked on all fours, its slender front limbs looking more like hands than a wolf's paws. Xavier took one look at it before letting loose with his arrow.

Xavier's bow took that opportunity to snap in two. Xavier grunted in surprise, and dropped his bow as he knelt. That didn't stop others from taking their shots, though. Everybody was surprised when Char's Snapdragon Fireworks actually worked; it wasn't immune to fire damage!

The plan continued. Malfeshnekor emitted a wave of crushing despair that Idunnr threw off, but couldn't take the time to tell who was effected. The heroes continued to pelt the demon, which then tried some sort of mind-affecting spell on Xavier, who obviously threw it off as he kept attacking.

Malfeshnekor was less that 10 feet away from Xavier; he moved to the far side of the chamber, then went invisible! Xavier whipped his bag of flour off his belt, and tossed it at the spot the demon was in, beaning him! This allowed the rest of the heroes to get more shots in, but Malfeshnekor went invisible again, and this time Xavier didn't have a second bag of flour. Lotslegs saved the day, however, with a shot of web at the demon; the web didn't slow the demon down any, but the heroes could see where the web was! Malfeshnekor roared in frustration as Morn switched to his bow, and caught it in the eye with an arrow! It wasn't enough to kill the demon by any means, but it was looking rather beat up from the onslaught.

“Wait, stop, perhaps we can come to an agreement,” the demon begged. Then, one of Nae's arrows hit Morn's arrow, the one that lodged in its eye. Nae's arrow sliced down the shaft, and popped the arrowhead like a golf club hits a golf ball. The arrowhead shot out the back of the demon's head, and Malfeshnekor's dead body crashed to the floor.

The group took several more shots, just in case, but the body didn't react to any of them. Finally, Xavier gave the all-clear. The fire pit turned out to be ten feet deep, but since the demon wasn't immune to fire (Idunnr still thought that was strange), of course it didn't use the pit as cover. The room was fairly wide, but not enough for it to hide its bulk from all its attackers. That was probably why it didn't try; when the attacks failed, and the invisibility attempts failed, the fight had an inevitable conclusion. Only at the end did it try words, but not even Xavier was crazy enough to bargain with it.

The group looted what they could, and found a pair of hidden alcoves along the south wall. They then searched the entire level for secret doors where there could possibly be space for a room, but couldn't find any. With Thistletop “done”, they went to the surface, and out into the daylight.

The fort had completely burned down. No goblins were to be seen. The bridge had survived intact, but the bindings on the Thistletop side had broken loose, such that it was hanging from the other side. The group scoured the surface for any surviving loot; coins, gems, and such. Idunnr noticed several goblins watching them from the mainland, and Xavier chuckled at the irony when told about it.

Once the surface was scoured, he summoned the fisherman, told him they were ready to be picked up, and to avoid the mainland so that the goblins there wouldn't be able to do anything to him; Thistletop itself was cleared. Once the boat arrived, Xavier climbed the rope down first, then the treasure was lowered (the giant helmet made a great container), then the cats, then everybody else. True to his word, Xavier had the fisherman stop at the coast, halfway to town, and let Orik go, with Lyrie and all his equipment (but none of hers, of course). Then they heroes returned to Sandpoint.


	8. Conclusion

# Conclusion

“I hear you let a pair of captives go,” the sheriff stated pointedly.

“I made a deal,” Xavier shrugged it off.

“You were operating under my authority,” Hemlock claimed.

“Oh? When's the last time you actually, you know, paid us?” Xavier countered.

“Gentlemen!” Kendra interrupted. “Why did you make a deal with him?” she asked Xavier.

“I thought he might come in useful, and the method of keeping him from betraying us was right there, too. So, I offered him a chance.”

“Did he come in useful?”

“Somewhat. I admit we probably could have done without him with us, but it was more convenient to not have to fight him, right when other monsters were showing up. That alone was a plus.”

“But the other?”

“That was the bargaining chip.”

“They should have been brought back for trial,” Hemlock commented

Xavier sighed. “You have nothing worthwhile on either of them. There is no evidence connecting them to the raids. There's no evidence connecting them to planning the raids. One appears to have been hired as a bodyguard, the other, a researcher. Their employer was questionable, yes, especially after they were brought to Thistletop, but all you've got there is “consorting with goblins”. The only time we know they attacked a good guy was when the woman hit Nae with a magic missile. She's quite paid for that. We can't even prove that they knew Nualia was trying to release a demon.”

“Still...” Hemlock muttered.

“Still, what? I made a decision. I suppose that looking back, it wasn't necessary, but at the time I didn't know that. It could have made a difference, so I did it.”

“You knew it was wrong, though, or you wouldn't have let them off early.”

“I let them off early because I didn't believe you would honor my word,” Xavier stated flatly.

“It wasn't your word to give.”

“Again, when have you actually paid us?” Xavier asked Hemlock again.

“I paid you in the form of real estate,” Kendra reminded Xavier.

“For helping the town out during the goblin raid, yes. Nothing was said about further help when we made that agreement. Nothing was said about being drafted into the town guard, without compensation. No, you've simply used the real estate as a hook to make me defend the town, since I was also defending my property.”

“So you're asking for back pay?”

“No. You couldn't afford my fees. But when I make a decision, I expect that decision to be honored, even if you don't agree with it.”

It hadn't taken long for everybody in town to learn what happened in Thistletop, down to the last detail. Xavier expected Orik had something to do with that; after all, killing a barghest while taking not so much as a scratch was rather impressive.

What Xavier hadn't expected, was the sheriff second-guessing his decisions. Still, it was easier dealing with his attitude, when the thought, I made your whore of a girlfriend my own, and she liked it, kept racing through his mind. It was actually a little difficult to not smile at him over that.

“We can do that,” the mayor stated. When the sheriff bristled, the mayor rephrased, “We will do that. So, what's next?”

“I need to go back. There's a few things left to do. The sage will probably want to look things over, and the priest needs to do something about that chapel, consecrated to Llamashtu. But that can wait a couple of days while we take it easy for awhile. We deserve a break.”

“What about Gogmurt?”

“What about him?”

“What do you intend to do with him?”

“The information he volunteered was incomplete, and led us into unnecessary danger. He can starve for that.”

“You'd have kept feeding him, had he been honest with you?” the mayor asked.

“If he's been honest with me, I'd be letting him go right now.” Hemlock started to bristle again, ready to argue. “But he's a goblin; of course he tried to get us killed. Now he can pay for that.” That settled the sheriff down a bit, and the mayor ended the meeting.

And that was that. Xavier walked away from the meeting, and to the heroes' private dinner where they would divide the loot. It was the day after they returned to Sandpoint; there had been a huge party at The Rusty Dragon the night before where the town celebrated; tonight it was just Xavier's group.

“Some old woman left this note here for you,” Idunnr said, handing a note over. He opened it up, reading it over.

It will now change according to that which you must defeat.

The handwriting was the same as the previous note. “More weirdness. Oh, well. Now, what were we here for?” Xavier asked, changing the subject.

“Loot!” the group chanted over and over while Xavier brought out the stuff to their cheers. The payoff was finally here.

“This is a Sihedron Medallion, or so I name it due to the sihedron rune on its front. It works like a cloak of protection, but also grants false life. Char, pass your cloak to Idunnr, and use this instead.

“Next up are potions. Idunnr and I can heal, so lets divide these evenly among the three of you that can't.

“Next, we have scrolls! Lots and lots of arcane spells, whatever shall I do with them?” Xavier asked as Char playfully ripped them out of his hands to everybody's amusement.

“Another potion; this time of double-barkskin. Morn?” Morn accepted it.

“And now for the bastard sword. Nae, you don't have much in the way of shorter-reach weapons. Here.”

“You named a sword a 'bastard'?” Nae interrupted, incredulous.

“Its the bastard child of the longsword, a one-handed weapon, and the two-handed sword. It's useable in one or two hands,” Morn replied sagely.

“You people are weird,” Nae replied, and Xavier moved on.

“One amulet of natural armor. Idunnr?

“A cloak of protection. Morn?

“A ring of force shield, shaped as a sihedron. Morn? No? Anybody? Okay then, I'll keep this one.

“A spellbook. Nobody here can use such a thing except me, so I guess its mine.

“Two everburning torches, and four everburning skulls.”

“Oh yeah, the skulls,” Idunnr replied. “I don't see those selling well; you might as well use them. I have my Ioun Torch, so I don't need one.”

“I see your nose turned up there, Morn. Here, have a torch then. Everybody else gets a skull, and we'll keep the extra skull and the second torch as reserves.

“The rest of it is stuff that needs to be sold off for coinage. If anybody wants any of it, feel free.” Morn took the golden holy symbol of Sarenrae, but nobody else wanted anything. “I'll get this all sold off, and then split the gold.”

“What about your properties?” Morn asked.

“Are you interested in owning real estate in town?” Xavier asked, and Morn shook his head along with everybody else. “I didn't think so. Okay, there are five properties in total. The first is this one, on the edge of town next to the river. The next is on Market street, pretty close to the south gate. Its got a good location, but its run down, and the basement is flooded. The third is on Main street, but infested with rats and in need of repair. The fourth is next to tower street, and has a pottery kiln in it; I've been looking for a potter to buy it, but nobody can afford it yet. I've been cleaning it up, but it's been messy. The fifth is a stone structure close to the cathedral, that the goblins invaded in the raid; they couldn't burn it down, but they did make a mess of the insides.

“I estimate they're worth 3500 gold in total, which means 700 of that is mine already. I've got 120 platinum from my previous work.” Xavier felt no need to tell them that the “previous work” actually included his proceeds from the jewelry theft. “That leaves me 2300 gold short; if everybody agrees, I can owe the group, until I can repay it out of my share of our current loot and future loot.” Nobody had any objections.

“So the mayor basically gave you the properties,” Morn wondered aloud.

“Yes, it was rather ingenious of her. With the properties, our fate became linked to Sandpoint's. Because of that, she didn't have to pay us for working for her; it was already in our mutual interest. I think we've earned that 3500 gold worth of value, now.

Only one small portion of my dreams are now made real. What else is there to see?, Mornilithe wondered. He responded, “we at least seem to have the time available.”

“What next?” asked Char.

“I want to go back to that 'hole' in the Nettlewood tunnels. I'm pretty sure its a tidal pool, and I have to wonder about any treasure that may have gone in with the victims as they were thrown in. Also, I have a plan to lure the predator out.” Xavier said. “We need a more permanent solution to the goblins. I had been considering the Otyugh strategy, but there's no telling what's trapped down there, underneath Santpoint, in sections of the catacombs the we couldn't get into. So, I'm thinking of trying to dominate the goblins. Take them over, and keep them focused on attacking each other instead of Sandpoint.”

“Why not kill them off?” Morn asked.

“Something else will take their place. Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't.” It was obvious Morn didn't completely like Xavier's response, but still accepted it.

“What about Thistletop?” Nae asked.

“When we tagged those goblins, we managed to tag a smart goblin wizard, who claimed he just wanted to be left alone, and griped about how the other goblins wouldn't do that. The goblin was actually literate. Anyway, I sent him to Thistletop. I told him he'd have to do some climbing, and he'd need to bring food for himself and 4 others, but if he made it, the 4 goblin women in Thistletop were all his. I promised to bring more food by when we returned – and we still need to return, if only to have Father Zantus deconsecrate that chapel of Llamashtu. Basically, I want to give him a chance to prove his neutrality. We'll bring food sufficient to last them through the winter, and a books on magic crafting. Perhaps we can trade with him for magic items; we have a few magic items of our own that are goblin-made, and thus difficult to sell. It would be a good way to exchange them for more useful stuff.”

“Have you heard of goblins not being evil?” Morn asked. “Has anybody?” Nobody had. “I don't think this will work.”

“Frankly, neither do I. But its still worth a shot, and it won't cost us that much to make the attempt.”

“I have a question.” Char spoke into the following silence. “How did you kill that bugbear?”

“That was a psionic attack. I severed his body from his mind.”

“And that killed him?” Nae asked.

“The body cannot live without the mind,” Xavier explained.

“You did that once before. There was a metallic humming noise, each time.”

“The humming noise is called a 'display'; most psionic powers have displays, although sometimes that can be suppressed.”

“You didn't tell that goblin to die, the first time you did it.”

“I didn't have an audience to impress, then,” Xavier responded, referring to Orik.

“So our efforts to kill the bugbear were wasted; you could have slaughtered him outright as he charged in?” Morn asked, unclear about how it all worked.

“It helped that he was already hurt. I doubt I could have killed him outright, otherwise. Still, it looked impressive, and that's what I was aiming for.”

“The town is sure impressed. I think Orik has been talking about us,” Idunnr observed, and everybody nodded.

“I hope so. The more that people know this town is defended, the less we'll need to actually defend it.”

“That's an interesting theory,” Nae admitted. “Time will tell if its accurate.”

“Yes,” Idunnr agreed. “Time will tell.”

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is appreciated. Please be gentle, this is my first posted story. ;)


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